Vol. 424 No. 1
64 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Health the reasons for the delay in clearing the financial aspects of replacement consultant medical staff posts where such posts are already funded; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
There are 1,169 permanent posts approved for consultants at present. Of these posts, 93 are vacant and are in the process of being filled. It should be noted that in the case of 20 of these 93 posts, candidates have been appointed but have not yet taken up duty.
In addition, a very small number of replacement consultant posts, 25, are still being examined by my Department on the basis of the additional resources that would be required to put new consultants in place, or because of discussions on possible restructuring of the posts. Discussions are ongoing with the agencies concerned on the filling of these posts in the context of those agencies' current budgetary position and the various demands on the resources available to those agencies.
