The Government was defeated in the Seanad, by 24 votes to 23, on a Fianna Fáil motion calling for the filling of a pancreas transplant surgeon post in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital.

Fianna Fáil Seanad leader Darragh O’Brien said: “We have been trying to get answers from Minister for Health Leo Varadkar, for some time now, on behalf of patients whose lives are at risk, as Ireland remains without any surgeon qualified to carry out pancreas transplants.’’

Mr O’Brien said while the Government had announced the programme would resume and move to St Vincent’s Hospital, the reality was there was no surgeon to carry out transplants.

Earlier this month, Mr Varadkar told the Seanad Beaumont Hospital was making every effort to find a suitable replacement. He said an additional €3 million had been provided to facilitate the appointment of 19 staff dedicated to organ donation across the country.

Fine Gael Senator Colm Burke, who has raised the issue with the Minister in the House in the past, said he would meet with Mr Varadkar within the next 24 hours on the matter.

“The employment of consultants is an issue I have raised consistently over the past four years,’’ Mr Burke added.

“We face major challenges filling posts over the next two to three years.’’

Independent Senator Prof John Crown said those in charge of transplant policy, over the past few years, felt it had been very unco-ordinated.

“We have seen other examples of problems in the health service where one critical retirement , or one strategically important person going on maternity or ill-health leave, has caused chaos in various services, such as dermatology in Waterford, famously, a few years ago,’’ Prof Crown added.

He said it was hard to escape the conclusion there was a certain lack of forward-planning in some aspects of the service.