Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I answered that question. As I said, a substantial amount of work has taken place involving my officials and officials from the Department of Finance. As I explained earlier, the Minister for Finance, not the Minister for Health and Children, has responsibility for public service staffing. I am not free to devise and implement a redundancy plan. The Minister for Finance must be centrally involved in any such scheme because it will not apply only to the health service. Members will appreciate that the Minister has been busy in recent weeks with financial and budgetary developments. However, I envisage we will be able to make a determination in this matter shortly, hopefully in consultation and agreement with the social partners.

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