Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The post was advertised. I cannot say with absolute certainty when it was advertised, but it was certainly advertised many months ago. However, it was not possible to find a suitable applicant. As the Senator will know, the health service works in such a way that the HSE is not always the employer. Beaumont Hospital, for example, is a voluntary hospital. Therefore, the people who work there, in St Vincent's University Hospital and many other hospitals are not actually HSE employees but employees of the voluntary hospital. As a consequence, recruitment procedures vary. There is direct recruitment by the HSE and also recruitment by individual voluntary hospitals. Quite a large number of consultant posts have been advertised in recent months. Advertisement is through the Public Appointments Service which fills the posts. It is trying to speed up the filling of posts, but sometimes it can take time because recruits have to give notice elsewhere before taking up a post, particularly if coming from overseas. There are difficulties in attracting applicants or any applicant in some cases, particularly when the job is not in one of the major cities. That is a particular difficulty. Obviously, any incentive that can be offered is limited because we are bound by the rules on public sector pay. The current structure does not give us flexibility to offer bespoke contracts, top-ups or incentives.