The Government has announced a €400 million voluntary redundancy and early retirement scheme for the Health Service Executive (HSE) which could see up to 5,000 staff leave the health service.
The programme is aimed at the 17,000 staff on main administrative and management grades and some of the 11,000 support personnel.
Up to 5,000 employees are set to leave the HSE under the process.
In a statement today, Minister for Health Mary Harney said the purpose of the schemes was to secure a permanent reduction in staff and to facilitate health service reform.
Ms Harney said although the programme would be open to both management and administrative grades, and support staff, priority would be given to the management and administrative grades. Those seeking to avail of the schemes must retire or resign by December 30th.
“The Croke Park agreement provides that the Government may offer voluntary mechanisms to exit the public service in specific sectors, bodies, locations or services. I am pleased that the Minister for Finance has found it possible to provide funding this year to meet the upfront costs of these two schemes," she said.
“There is general acceptance of the need to reduce the numbers of management and administrative staff in the health service. For that reason, all applications from management and administrative staff to avail of the schemes will be approved."
The Minister said the terms on offer were "fair and reasonable", particularly given the budgetary situation. She said the schemes would be available on a once-off basis to employees in the grades and would not be repeated.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Ms Harney said she expected there would be "huge interest" in the schemes. She accepted there was a short time frame for prospective applicants but referred to the major economic challenges facing the State.
Expressing the hope up to €200 million of annual costs could be taken out of the health service, she said it would not be easy to deal with the aftermath of the staff departures but that she had "huge confidence" in the board of the HSE and new chief executive Cathal Magee.
"For many years now, people have called for a scheme like this, I would have wished that this could have happened sooner . . . and I believe the time has now come, given the economic challenges that we face in the country, in order to minimise the impact of any cutbacks and services to patients, that we first of all reduce to cost of providing those services. . . . The idea is to take out people who would not have to be replaced."
The Minister denied the creation of the HSE was a mistake. "The HSE has been in existence for five years, I think a lot has been learned in those five years . . . and I believe the time is opportune now to go one step further, and to reduce the administrative and management burden on the public health service."
Ms Harney said she was not suggesting individuals were not working in their jobs, and that she believed there was flexibility from staff under the Croke Park agreement to deliver services to patients in the aftermath of the schemes.
Under proposals drawn up by the Department of Health, the Department of Finance and HSE management, staff will be offered redundancy terms of three weeks’ pay per year of service which would be capped at two years’ salary, it is understood.
Staff taking the offer would be entitled to statutory redundancy arrangements in addition. These involve the payment of two weeks’ pay for every year of service plus one further week. The amount of statutory redundancy is subject to a maximum earnings limit of €600 per week.
There are about 17,000 staff in clerical and administrative grades in the organisation.