Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am aware of the Minister's concern about the issue I raised. He made an issue of his decision to require staff to give three months' notice to enable Departments to plan ahead. However, when I tabled a parliamentary question asking whether this notice period formed part of terms of agreement, I discovered staff are not legally obliged to give three months' notice. The Minister engaged in something of a bluff when he gave the impression that staff would be required to give three months' notice to enable him to plan ahead because we now realise there was no basis for claiming staff would do so.

The Minister for Health stated the other day that while the Health Service Executive employs 33% of public sector staff, it accounts for more than 40% of retirements. I am concerned that this trend will continue. I am expressing a concern which the Minister must be aware of, but I do not see anything from him to suggest how he will head it off. I hope the answer is not more agency nurses and paying staff to retire and come back on an agency basis the following Monday morning, as has been known to happen.

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