Seanad debates

Tuesday, 13 October 2015

1:00 pm

Photo of Marc MacSharryMarc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The budget does not contain any measures to reduce hospital waiting lists. The decision on whether to hold the election on November or March 2016 has been a topic of discussion. I wonder what will be the Government's view in January when the waiting lists are even longer.

We have 171 vacant consultant posts because consultants will not stay in Ireland. Despite being trained here to the highest possible standard at a cost of hundreds of thousands of euro per annum, consultants are choosing to move abroad for big money. The Government is recruiting people from other countries who, arguably, are educated and trained to a lesser standard than the graduates of our medical schools in University College Dublin, the National University of Ireland Galway, University College Cork, the Royal College of Surgeons and elsewhere. They are being educated to the highest standards, undergo consultant training for five years and are then exported to earn $800,000 or $900,000 abroad. This is not a racist comment but a statement of fact. For example, more than 50% of the physicians in Sligo Regional Hospital are from other countries.

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