John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 247: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if it is the intention of the Health Service Executive to recruit paramedics in the south east region. [40569/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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The Government decision on the moratorium on recruitment, promotion, or payment of an allowance for the performance of duties at a higher grade is being implemented in the health sector in such a way as to ensure that key services are maintained insofar as possible in the health services, particularly in respect of children at risk, older people and persons with a disability.

The employment control framework specifically exempts staff in the following front line grades in the health sector from the moratorium: Medical Consultants, Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Clinical Psychologists, Behaviour Therapists, Counsellors, Social Workers, and Emergency Medical Technicians. The framework actually allows for a growth in the number of those posts within the overall approved employment ceiling (111,800 wtes) for the health sector. The framework also includes provision for the creation of 225 new development posts this year for cancer, mental health and disability services. Following a submission from the Health Service Executive earlier this year, it was agreed that special provisions would also apply in relation to Clinical Engineering Technicians, Dosimetrists, Physicists, and Radiation Therapists, which are specialist grades under the National Cancer Control Programme.

As the recruitment of paramedics in the south east region is a service matter, it has been referred to the HSE for attention and direct reply to the Deputy.