Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

-----particularly as we seek to integrate community and hospital services in a more orderly fashion than ever before. We want to move staff from providing the service in the hospital to providing it in the community and redeployment within a reasonable geographic radius provides that opportunity. One if not two of Professor Drumm's advisers have already left the HSE. The contracts of employment of the remaining two will cease when Professor Drumm is no longer chief executive officer from next summer. The board is advertising this week or shortly for a replacement.

The number at directorate or senior management level in the HSE will not change with the new arrangements. There is scope to take people out. There has been a significant interest in early retirement from the public sector, not least the health sector. We had a supplementary budget last week partly because of the increase in those numbers. A large proportion are from the management, administrative or support staff. With the moratorium, those who retire at that level will not be replaced apart from in exceptional circumstances so, for example, one replaces the CEO. Where there is scope for efficiencies, people will not be replaced in what is broadly called the front line services.

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