THE HSE issued a circular in error saying the pay of workers who were not public servants should be cut, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has confirmed.
“The HSE has advised that this circular was sent in error and that Prof Drumm has in fact issued a clarification to those people in this regard,” Ms Coughlan said.
A spokeswoman for the HSE confirmed “some letters” were sent to voluntary and funded agencies, noting pay cuts would equally apply to their staff.
However, this had subsequently been clarified by the Department of Health and she added that she would not characterise the letters as a circular. The issue was raised in the Dáil chamber yesterday by Labour leader Eamon Gilmore.
He said he had a circular issued by the HSE to agencies and charities it funded, directing them to cut the pay of their staff by the same amount of the cuts in pay of the public sector.
This had happened “even though there is no legislative basis for that and even though those staff are not public servants and were not included in the legislation that was passed by the Oireachtas before the Christmas”, Mr Gilmore said.
He said pay cuts in the public sector were being used to drive down levels of pay in the voluntary and private sectors.
Copies of the document, seen by The Irish Times, refer to the financial emergency measures in the Public Interest Bill having been passed by the Dáil.
The document states the Bill gives effect to the Government decision to reduce pay of public servants to achieve a saving of €1 billion in the 2010 pay bill.
One version of the document states: “The provisions of the above will also apply to staff in those grant-aided agencies that are not specifically included in the legislation . . . The rates of pay should reduce with effect from January 1, 2010.”
Another version noted the provisions are “expected” to apply to such staff.
