Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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212. To ask the Minister for Health if a matter raised in correspondence by a person (details supplied) will be addressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40609/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the HSE that while there is no national recruitment embargo or moratorium, there is a priority requirement for all HSE services to maintain, or get to, an affordable staffing level that is sustainable in 2019 and 2020, while also prioritising the delivery of safe services.

In light of this, the HSE advise that they have introduced control measures relating to staffing and recruitment (including the return of employees on career breaks) to ensure that they live within the available resources provided to them. This does mean that in some Hospital Groups and Community Healthcare Organisations non-critical replacement posts will be paused. The preference is for these controls to remain in place for as short a period as necessary, with on-going review until there is satisfactory evidence of traction and delivery of balanced financial plans from Hospital Groups and CHO’s.

The HSE report that there is on-going capacity for recruitment of newly funded posts and replacement of critical clinical posts within frontline services throughout this period.

With regard to this specific employee, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.