Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 243: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the total number of nursing posts currently vacant or waiting to be filled throughout the private and public hospital sectors; if the filling of any such posts is affected by the recruitment embargo; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35151/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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As information on the number of nursing posts currently vacant or awaiting to be filled in the public health service is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply. Neither my Department or the HSE maintain records on the number of vacancies in the private health sector. The Government has made it clear that a critical part of its strategy to restore the public finances is to achieve sustainability in the cost of delivering public services relative to State revenues. To help achieve this goal, it will be necessary to restructure and reorganise the public service and to reduce public service numbers, including the number of nurses and midwives, over the coming years.

The Employment Control Framework for the health sector provides for a net reduction in employment of 6,000 in wholetime equivalent (WTE) terms from March 2009 to the end 2012 and consequential pay roll savings. Based on numbers reductions already achieved in 2009, the net target reduction to end 2012 is 4,560 WTE. Therefore, the net target reduction in numbers in 2010, and in each of the following two years, is 1,520 wholetime equivalents. The Government decision has been modulated to ensure that key services are maintained insofar as possible in the health services, particularly in respect of children at risk, older people, persons with a disability, mental health services, and cancer services. The Framework, accordingly, provides for a number of grades and posts that are exempt from the moratorium on recruitment and promotion.

Although nurses are not exempt from the moratorium, the Employment Control Framework allows for the creation of 100 Psychiatric Nurse posts, where they are required, to support the implementation of a Vision for Change. In addition, the Framework provides for the creation of up to 70 Public Health Nurse posts to facilitate the recruitment of student public health nurses. It also provides for the creation of up to 30 posts to facilitate the appointment of successful students from the Nurse Sponsorship Scheme.

In addition, the HSE also has some degree of flexibility under the Framework to sanction the filling of certain other posts (both within its own organisation and in voluntary service providers funded by it) on an exceptional basis provided it achieves the overall target reductions in both staffing levels and pay costs. The requirement is that a post or posts of equivalent value must be suppressed in order to meet the cost of the post being filled.