Health committee hearing venue
Senator Burke explains that consecutive hearings in the Seanad Chamber are needed for continuity, while Senator Mooney clarifies that opposition concerns only the sitting-day timing, not the hearings themselves.
The health committee will hold hearings in the Seanad Chamber on Friday from 9.30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and likewise on Monday and Tuesday next week. More than 36 medical professionals will give evidence. I know that Members may be inconvenienced because the Seanad is not sitting on Tuesday but it is important for continuity that the hearings are held on successive days. Last January, the health committee proved that the consultation process was extremely helpful in dealing with this issue. Likewise, the public hearings this Friday and on Monday and Tuesday next week, will also be helpful in teasing out the issues to ensure that the legislation will be constitutional and capable of implementation. This very important issue needs to be given the space and time which it is being allocated. The people who will appear before the committee over the three days of hearings are attending voluntarily. They do not have to attend but they want to make a contribution to this debate and to legislation in this area.
I refer to Senator Jim Walsh's point about appointments in the health service. I am extremely concerned about that issue. For example, 95% of all consultant posts advertised in the past six to eight months have not been filled. I can inform the House that they will not be filled. We need to examine how junior doctors and consultants are appointed. I have put this matter - which I have been raising for the past 18 months - on the agenda for the meeting of the health committee next Thursday. The problem is not going away. I am very concerned that more than 2,000 junior doctors are on six-month contracts while the HSE has made an agreement with a university in Pakistan to give two-year contracts to graduates from Pakistan universities. This does not make sense. It is time for a review by all the training bodies, the hospitals, the HSE and the Department of Health, of the long-term planning for the employment of medical expertise. I ask for a debate on this issue.
Comment on this
I wish to raise a point of order. To avoid any ambiguity about the comments made on this side of the House, we fully support the decision of our Chief Whip in supporting, by vote at the Committee on Procedure and Privileges, the holding of the hearings in this Chamber. Our only concern centred on the actual date being on a sitting day. We fully support the principle of holding the hearings and we fully support the Chief Whip in committee.
