Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 163: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the recent voluntary early retirement scheme for the Health Service Executive as a model for reducing public sector workers as stated in Parliamentary Question No. 56 of 18 February 2009; the number of persons who left the public service under the HSE VER scheme; the cost of payments to those who left the public service under the HSE VER scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39454/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The deliberations of my Department in regard to a targeted Voluntary Early Retirement Scheme for the health sector referred to in my response to PQ 6276/09 culminated in the Incentivised Scheme of Early Retirement (ISER) for the Public Service announced in the 2009 Supplementary Budget. The ISER was intended to apply in the health sector.

However, its application in the health sector was suspended by the Health Service Executive (HSE) because staff associations instructed their members not to co-operate with redeployment and other flexibility measures. While the HSE continued to accept applications under the scheme, the processing of these applications to final decision was suspended pending confirmation of union co-operation with the ISER. The most up to date information available is that 305 ISER applications have been received within the health sector.