Dr. Suzanne Crowe

Well, I mean, just to be clear, I've never worked in the Rotunda Hospital, so I don't have any connection there.

Professor Daly is a seasoned operator and manager of hospitals.

This is the second hospital he's been managing.

I don't imagine that that piece of information came out at the Oireachtas hearing by accident.

To me, there's something to be asked around why this has come out in the public domain like this.

I think it was deliberate and I think it reflects the fact that there hasn't been resolution on the issues that have been raised going back several years.

And the deadline for implementation is passed now.

I think it's passed over a year.

And there seems to be a stalemate.

And so there's a stalemate in the last week or two since that Oireachtas hearing.

But that reflects the fact that there's been a stalemate for the last couple of years.

That's correct.

And that's been happening all around the country for decades.

And it's gradually phasing out because of this new contract.

But there are still people on the old contract who deliver private care within public hospitals.

No, they don't.

And they do a lot of that care in the hours above they're contracted, 40 hours a week.

But they use the facilities.

That's true.

I'm not aware of any and I think it's been quite easy to actually introduce a new contract in the majority of other hospitals because there's very often a co-located private hospital where those on the new contract can deliver private services above their contracted hours in the private site.