THE GOVERNMENT has yet to decide on the detail of a voluntary early retirement scheme for the Health Service Executive (HSE), Minister for Health Mary Harney told the Dáil.

Ms Harney recalled she had confirmed to the Dáil on a number of occasions that she believed a managed voluntary redundancy scheme could have an important role to play in helping to improve the delivery of health services to patients by streamlining management and administration within the HSE.

The Minister for Finance in his budget statement, she added, had reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to such a scheme.

“The immediate priority for the Government is to put in place the necessary legislation and other measures to implement the €2 billion public expenditure savings announced on February 3rd.

“When this has been dealt with, the Government then will consider other matters, including the introduction of a voluntary early retirement scheme for the HSE and other areas of the Government.’’

Ms Harney said she did not know what the level of interest would be in a voluntary redundancy scheme.

“Much would depend on the terms, the age of prospective applicants and so on. Obviously, from a strategic point of view, we are anxious to retain the best people.’’

She said a voluntary redundancy scheme must be appropriately managed, so that they would not be be losing vital staff.

“The intention is that there will be no replacement of those staff who avail of voluntary redundancy. Instead, there will be redeployment of remaining staff.’’

Labour spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said the common perception was that the various layers of management within the HSE were causing delays in the system.

Ms Harney said a considerable amount of work had been done by her department and the Department of Finance regarding the proposed redundancy scheme. The intention was that the Minister for Finance and herself would take a memo to the Government.

“This would probably already have been done in the past month, if not for the necessary focus on the financial stability of the State and the measures required to be taken to that end.’’

Ms Harney said that no performance-related awards had been paid to the chief executive and eligible senior managers in the HSE in respect of 2008.