Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Norris raised an interesting question relating to the costs of the Oireachtas. It is important that we set out clearly that if we abolished the Seanad and the Dáil in the morning, there would be a saving of €100 million, which in real terms is about two days of social welfare. At the moment, we are paying around €400 million a week in social welfare payments. It is important that we put the service that Oireachtas Members provide and the work they do into perspective. It is easy to be critical but we are very slow to take credit where work is done and a lot of good work is done by all Members of the Oireachtas - of all parties and none.

I will address the recent decision by the Irish Medical Organisation to accept the package put forward regarding the recruitment of medical consultants. It is a very important decision, which I welcome, to accept the package available for new consultants joining the health service. It is important that the HSE immediately prioritises the recruitment of consultants. There are over 200 vacancies in a range of areas in all our hospitals. It is important that every effort is made to get the best people back into our system and to make sure we can provide the service the people in this country require. It is not something that can be addressed overnight because even if a job is offered to someone today, it might be 12 months before it is taken up. We also need to start planning for those who are going to retire from the service over the next 12 months. When I put a question to the HSE at a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children in October, it told me it could not give me the details of all the vacancies across the country. This is unacceptable. As I pointed out to representatives from the HSE, if they gave me the name of a porter in all 40 hospitals and I telephoned each of them, I am sure they would be able to give me the information. I found it a little-----