Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Question 95: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the other directions made by the Health Service Executive to reduce staffing numbers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17719/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I wish to state at the outset that, by the end of this year, there will be substantially more staff working in delivering front-line health care services than at the start. It is a long-standing feature of the public service that both pay levels and serving numbers have been subject to a range of control mechanisms to manage Exchequer costs. The Government needs to have available to it a clear understanding of both the numbers and grade make up of the various sectors of the public service. Such information is vital in circumstances where the Government is seeking to manage its overall fiscal, particularly expenditure, policy and in assessing future public service pension liabilities.

In December 2006 a revised employment ceiling for the health service of 108,000 expressed in whole time equivalents was sanctioned. This represented an increase of 10,450 over the previous approved ceiling. In conveying this sanction, the HSE was asked to ensure that staff costs are controlled and managed to best effect, that an appropriate balance is achieved between clinical and non-clinical posts, that there is a better skill mix within the clinical areas and that staffing levels provide cost-effective and safe/quality care to patients.

Sanction for the revised employment ceiling of 108,000 was, however, subject to the condition that a revised employment ceiling of 107,000 would apply with effect from the end of 2007, i.e. an implicit reduction of 1,000 posts is to be secured through better management of staff resources. This represents an effort to increase efficiency of staff resources by less than 1 per cent, even as staff levels for service developments are being increased substantially.