Minister rejects plea to delay establishment of health body

The Minister for Health and Children has rejected a plea from the State's biggest health union to postpone the establishment of the Health Service Executive (HSE), claiming such a delay would undermine public confidence in the sector's reform.

Ms Harney said yesterday she believed the dispute with IMPACT would be resolved before the trade union's strike notice lapses on December 13th.

"In the spirit of Christmas, I think everybody can resolve their difficulties, which I don't believe are enormous."

She was speaking at a conference in Dublin on union-management partnership in the health service, which coincided with the appointment of a mediator in the IMPACT dispute by the national pay agreement watchdog, the National Implementation Body (NIB).

Mr Phil Flynn is to facilitate "immediate" discussions on the establishment of "a protocol in respect of those staff members of existing health agencies who will be directly affected by the establishment of the HSE", according to an NIB statement.

Mr Kevin Callinan, IMPACT's national health secretary, said it was prepared to work with anyone to resolve the dispute. However, if the strike was to be avoided "there needs to be an intensive amount of work between now and December 13th.

Ms Harney said the Government had spent 18 months making preparations for the introduction of the HSE, and "there is no turning the clock back. The momentum is not going to be in any way diluted as a result of possible industrial action".

Mr Kevin Kelly, executive chairman of the interim HSE, said it was "very comfortable about going live in January".

However, he stressed, "there will be no big bang. There will be change but it will be change for the positive".