She looks dead set on chasing consultants out of the public system. This new dispute is only evidence of that- shes stone-walling them rather than dealing with the issues at hand. WHY are all our well-trained doctors and nurses leaving and HOW can we fix it? Why do we pay taxes to train professionals to the highest level just so that Australians and Americans can get the benefit? Something has to be done- perhaps some contract they enter into when they get free education that they will serve a certain amount of time in Irish hospitals in return.

I agree with your comment on this. However, I think if Mary Harney wants to progress with this way of ‘fixing’ our Health Service then she should be clearer as to to ‘why’ co-location of private hospitals on public sites could be the answer. For example, it’s obvious that these new private hospitals will attract staff away from our already crumbling public health service into the private sector – what the hell is Mary Harney thinking?