the Minister for Health when he will sanction extra nursing staff for St. Joseph's Hospital, Clonmel, County Tipperary.
Written Answers. - County Tipperary Hospital.
602.
The provision of additional nursing staff for St. Joseph's Hospital, Clonmel, must be viewed in the context of the additional costs involved and the restriction on the creation of additional posts in the public service. All health boards have been directed to achieve a 2 per cent reduction in the numbers employed on 31 March 1983, as compared with the number employed on 21 July 1981. Consequently the provision of additional nursing staff at the hospital would depend on the ability of the South-Eastern Health Board to redeploy existing staff and financial resources. The Board have in fact appointed two extra nurses to the hospital in this manner.