Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

The plan for education that the Deputy approves of is exactly that. People will be able to retire but stay in place until the exams. There may be a need for such flexibility in other sectors. I am open to that where it is needed. The objective will to ensure that we protect services as far as possible.

The Deputy fears that there might be a mass exodus from the health service. We have long spoken about the layers of administration in the HSE. I would not shed too many salty tears if many administrators left. I have more of a difficulty if many front line staff left. The idea behind asking for three months' notice is so that we can put a handle on that. The Deputy is dead right, and I said so at the time, that people are not contractually obliged to give notice. However, I have asked people to give us notice. Everybody in the public service has an interest in ensuring that the services they have spent their lives providing continue to be provided. By and large, the indications are that people will give us decent notice to make those contingency plans.

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