Patrick Nulty
Question:774. Deputy Patrick Nulty asked the Minister for Health the way in which the €108 million in unspecified pay savings in the 2014 Health Service Executive service plan will be found. [55475/13]
View answerWednesday, 15 January 2014
Questions (774)
Written answers
The implementation of the Haddington Road Agreement (HRA) commenced in July, 2013, is now well advanced in most sectors, and is already delivering on its objectives. The HRA involves a demanding set of targets for the health service, which accounts for approximately one-third of the overall public service workforce, and naturally, the resultant savings to be realised in that sector form a significant part of the overall €1 billion target.
The realisation of these savings in the Health sector will of course be challenging, and the focus and responsibility of management must now be on the delivery of these savings through the implementation of the various measures and other flexibilities which the Agreement provides for. A HSE national assurance and support team is working with managers to ensure measures to deliver the necessary savings are implemented.
The amount of €108 million is an integral part of the overall savings target for the Health sector. This €108 million pay related savings target will be subject to a separate process and will be held centrally by HSE management until a procedure is in place setting out how these savings are to be achieved.
There is no question of health employees being required to take any additional payroll reductions other than those required under Haddington Road. What the full implementation of Haddington Road can provide is scope to optimise savings across the health system and, until the process to be undertaken with reference to the €108 million fully considers the possibilities in this regard, this sum will be held centrally and remain unallocated.