Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The option of firing 10,000, 12,000 or 14,000 public servants is not open to us. I have said previously that I favour a redundancy plan that is based on a full analysis and assessment. In the past, we have had redundancy plans which were not based on a full analysis. If people are superfluous to requirements in one area, while shortages exist in another area, of course that will be dealt with in the context of the announcement made yesterday by the Minister for Finance. That has to be done on a planned voluntary basis. That is what will happen. Contrary to the myth that most of the new employees who have been recruited by the health service over the last three years are administrators, managers and other bureaucratic officials, over 80% of them are clinical personnel, such as doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and medical social workers.

I said at the outset I wanted to share time with the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern. Before I give way to him, I wish to repeat that difficult decisions have to be made in the circumstances we currently face. When we make difficult choices, we have to ensure we stay in contact with those who are most affected by them. A helpline is available to the 140,000 people over the age of 70 who have an age-based medical card.

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