James Varley 28th September 2026
Providing incentives to consultants in public hospitals has been touted as a possible solution to increase productivity.
Galway East TD Albert Dolan says he is a ‘big believer’ in providing public consultants with similar bonuses to their private counterparts.
At a meeting of the public accounts committee, the Fianna Fáil TD mentioned an example in University Hospital Galway, where, he said, a consultant was much less efficient than they were in a private hospital:
“I am a big believer, though not everyone agrees, in incentivisation and proper incentives. I do not like when the conversation focuses on “This consultant got that.” That is a tiny conversation in a much bigger system. I do not mind if consultants make huge money if they are delivering.
“I heard a story recently of a consultant who was able to do 20 cataracts a day in their private clinic in Galway but was only facilitated to do three, maybe four on a good day, in University Hospital Galway.”
Also at the meeting, HSE officials said that abolishing private practice in public hospitals will cost around €140m this year.
Deputy Dolan asked the HSE to compare the productivity of a public and private MRI machine in UHG:
“There are two MRI scanners in University Hospital Galway. I believe, if I have this correct, they are literally 20 yards apart. Measure the productivity of both of those scanners. I would appreciate any correspondence the witnesses could give me on that and on their findings.
“One of the scanners is private and one is public. They are supposed to be right beside each other. If the witnesses are aware of that, that is scandalous. It needs to be addressed. I believe they can address it.”
In response, Damien McCallion, Chief Technology and Transformation Officer (CTO) and Deputy CEO of the HSE said that individual cases “might vary” but that he gets ” the general point”.
“A lot of our clinical programmes are looking at what we should be trying to do with the resources that are there. On day procedures, we believe surgical hubs six days per week will give us the throughput the Deputy is talking about. We believe it will be comparable to the private sector.
“I was in Mount Carmel in south Dublin recently and some of the staff had come from the private hospitals. They are saying it is already more efficient and lean that what they saw in private hospitals. That is for certain types of work. It is more complex for theatres when you get into in-patient work. You need beds and so on. That is where we are trying to generate improvements.”
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