Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

On 1 January next, the HSE will have existed for five years. Everyone acknowledges that its layers of administration are top heavy. Will some posts be taken out at that level? When Professor Drumm took up his position, he brought in what has been described as a kitchen cabinet in addition to those already in the health boards. Will the Minister streamline the governance of the HSE?

At the estimates meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children last week, the Minister told us she planned to reduce the numbers working in the HSE by 6,000 by removing 8,000 in some way or another and adding 2,000 for development of services. Now that the talks with the unions have broken down, does the Minister still expect to achieve that reduction and, if so, how? Will there be involuntary redundancies or has she had time to think about how she might achieve this?

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