Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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369. To ask the Minister for Health if pay equality for hospital consultants appointed after 2012 will be restored; if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties in recruiting and retaining hospital consultants due to this pay inequality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37503/18]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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457. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to reinstate the new entrant consultant salary rates that were reduced in October 2012 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37301/18]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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540. To ask the Minister for Health the measures he is taking to ensure that consultants appointed post-October 2012 receive equal pay for equal work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37597/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 369, 457 and 540 together.

The Report of the Public Sector Pay Commission published on 4th September specifically addressed a number of health sector grades including consultants, having identified the grade as one where recruitment and retention issues were evident in its first report. In this report the Commission recognised that the implementation of the settlement of the 2008 Consultant Contract claim, while necessary of itself, will serve to highlight further the differential in pay between the pre-existing cadre of consultants and new entrants. It stated that the aggregate level of vacancies for consultant posts at the end of 2017 and evidence of recruitment campaigns with very low levels of applications, suggest a general difficulty recruiting consultants and that a number of factors including the two-tier pay system was among a number of factors raised with it as affecting recruitment.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has noted the process underway regarding the extended salary scales for new entrants across the public service under Section 4 of the Public Service Stability Agreement. Discussions are ongoing with union interests in relation to the new entrant issue and it has confirmed that the outcome to these discussions will encompass the consultants hired on new contracts after 2012. It has also noted that the Report of the Public Service Pay Commission has proposed that the Parties to the Public Service Stability Agreement jointly consider what further measures could be taken, over time, to address the pay differential between pre-existing consultants and new entrant consultants which has increased following the settlement of the 2008 Consultant Contract claim.