TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has told the Dáil that the deadlines for the proposed HSE voluntary redundancy scheme must be met “in order that the monies that are being provided in this financial year can be disbursed on that basis”.

He said yesterday “the Government is providing money during the course of 2010 in order to effect savings from 2011 on”. Mr Cowen added: “I understand that there were 900 expressions of interest overnight”.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore questioned the very short deadlines for the scheme announced on Monday of a voluntary redundancy and early retirement package for 4,000 personnel in administrative and management grades.

Mr Cowen said the terms outlined “require applications to be made by November 19th and for people to leave the service on December 31st”. Minister for Health Mary Harney had said the scheme could result in €200 million a year being saved from the HSE payroll.

Mr Gilmore said staff had just two weeks to apply for the scheme and it was to be “done and dusted” by the end of the year, even though it had taken three to four years to put it in place. He said that in fact concerns about “too much bureaucracy in the system” were aired “as far back as November 2004”.

The Minister for Health “on October 17th, 2007 told us that there was scope for a voluntary redundancy programme and that she intended to discuss it with the new health forum”.

The Minister for Finance “on July 8th, 2008 told us that the Department of Finance was drawing up proposals for a targeted scheme to reduce surplus staff”.

In September 2008, the HSE said 1,000 backroom jobs would go over the following 12 months.

“In his budget speech on October 14th, 2008 Minister Lenihan said discussions were under way on the development of a redundancy scheme for the HSE and on November 25th, 2008 the Minister for Health said she hoped the redundancies would commence in 2009.”

Questioning how realistic the deadlines were, Mr Gilmore said that “even if you have 4,000 by that date, there is a process of identifying whether or not those staff are in fact surplus to requirements and can be released or whether the posts are surplus to requirements. There may well be a process of selection if there’s more than the number who will subscribe to it. Then there’s the process of redeployment of staff” and “there is quite a process that has to be followed under the Croke Park agreement in consultation and making arrangements for redeployment”.

Mr Cowen said, however, that “it is obviously long mooted that there would be a scheme”. This scheme “is on the basis that the Government is providing money during the course of 2010 in order to effect savings from 2011 on”. He said “this is a challenging issue for management and for employee representatives to be delivered, but it has to be done in the context of the availability of funds during this current financial year”.

It “has been mooted for some time for these grades and I’m sure contingency plans can be put in place.”