Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

As I informed the Deputy on a number of occasions and as I have repeated publicly, I have discussed this with the chairman and board of the HSE, which I addressed recently, and with the chief executive officer of the HSE. If there are people in one area in the health service who are superfluous to requirements while there are shortages in other areas, we must make decisions. A manpower analysis has been carried out in recent months within the HSE and the hospitals and community services operated by the HSE. A new human resources director will start work on either 3 June or 4 June. In that context I expect the HSE to be in a position to make proposals about where it intends to make reductions in some areas so that more people can be employed in other areas.

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