The number of unfilled consultant posts at Mayo University Hospital is reaching critical levels. I have a responsibility to the people of Mayo to raise this issue as I want our hospital in Castlebar to succeed into the future. With over 700 unfilled consultant posts in hospitals around the country and the age profile of consultants in Mayo University Hospital being much closer to retirement age there needs to be action to get new specialist registrars into our hospital. I understand there are still issues ongoing to remediate consultants pay parity and restore trust between consultant bodies and health service management around financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI. Will the Taoiseach provide an update on when we will see agreement reached on the implementation of consultant contracts, which we need if we are to have any chance of getting vacant posts filled?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. First, the total number of funded consultant positions in Mayo University Hospital is about 64, with 60.5 currently in post when locums are included. The area of difficulty in filling posts in Mayo University Hospital is predominantly within the medical speciality, so there are a range of issues there. Interviews will be held in April for two obstetric consultant posts and one consultant endocrinology post. Other posts that have been advertised and have interview dates pending includes positions in geriatrics, emergency medicine, respiratory medicine, cardiology medicine and medicine in general. At a broader level, there has been substantial recruitment of consultants across the board. It is higher than was sometimes anticipated. On the advancement of new contracts in line with the Sláintecare proposal, we have had intensive discussions on that.