Concerns have been raised for services at the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore after it emerged the contracts of a number of nurses will not be renewed when they come to an end.
The HSE said that temporary contracts coming to an end may not be renewed because the purpose for which the person was employed no longer applies, for example to cover maternity leave, annual leave, sick leave or career break.
"Management at the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore, are constantly reviewing all temporary contracts which is normal practice to enable the hospital to stay within its budget," the HSE said in a statement today.
The temporary contracts in question include agency staff.
"No permanent jobs have been affected and the hospital is maintaining its agreed staff complement," the HSE said.
Fine Gael Laois/Offaly TD Olwyn Enright said she had met a "bureaucratic brick wall" for almost a week in trying to establish the facts around "rumours" of the cancellation of up to 140 staff contracts at the hospital.
"Today the doublespeak continued with the HSE persisting with the line that their overall complement of staff remains the same," she said.
"This is a cop-out which ignores the reality that five nurses in Tullamore have already been told their contracts will not be renewed and there are proposals to lay off over 20 more staff.
"Frontline services in Tullamore are already under pressure. For example, there is a significant waiting list for hip replacements but the four orthopaedic surgeons at the hospital are only performing one hip operation per week because of the closure of 12 surgical beds and four general beds as part of Government-sanctioned cutbacks."