TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has insisted there will be "no compromise" on quality or safety in hospitals affected by the shortage in non-consultant hospital or "junior" doctors, despite a Sinn Féin challenge that such a claim was "absolute rubbish".

Mr Kenny said the problem was not a question of funding or a recruitment embargo but because of an "inability to attract enough doctors to our hospitals".

He said the Minister for Health might amend the law to reinstate the temporary registration of doctors because incoming doctors were required to do "an examination across the entire medical spectrum" and might not pass such an examination because they did not have experience across the entire system.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams called on the Taoiseach to name the small hospital A&Es which might not be safely manned. He also called on the Taoiseach to insist that consultants "fulfil their contracts and carry out their work in public hospitals".

Mr Kenny said the HSE had undertaken a recruitment drive in India and Pakistan and 400 suitable doctors had been identified. The Minister was working intensively with the HSE to resolve the issue of registration before the changeover on July 11th, when junior doctors complete six-month training stints and move to another area of medicine.

Mr Adams said it was "absolute rubbish" for Mr Kenny to say there would be no compromise on quality standards when he could not name the hospitals whose A&Es could not be safely manned.