Bonuses for some, cutbacks for others

AS THE latest episode in the hospital consultants’ contract saga plays out, it occurred to me that few of the people involved in these discussions are ever likely to be poor, marginalised or languishing on a waiting list for medical treatment.

Amusingly, in the same week that these marathon discussions resumed yet again, we were informed that many senior HSE managers will receive large bonuses and then, a little later, that the head of the HSE will receive an 80,000 bonus.

Given this surprising generosity with the taxpayers’ money for HSE staff, it would be almost churlish not to extend similar largesse to those with the rank of consultant.