Minister for Health James Reilly said today plans were well advanced to address the impact of large numbers of people leaving the public service at the end of the month.
Almost 7,772 applications were received for early retirement from the public sector under an incentivised scheme before the deadline last week.
Critics say the departure of so many senior public servants before the end of February will cause turmoil in education, health and the Garda Síochána, and will save far less than the Government is forecasting.
Those leaving include 3,500 in the health sector, 2,000 in education and 1,000 in the Civil Service. However, applicants can change their minds up to the last day before leaving, so the overall number could fall.
Dr Reilly said slowing down elective inpatient procedures for a short period of time to allow the health service to “absorb the change” was a possibility.
“Obviously we’re a wee bit disadvantaged insofar as we can’t dictate who goes, whereas with a more targeted voluntary redundancy scheme you can.”
Dr Reilly was speaking at Mount Carmel Hospital in Churchtown, Dublin this afternoon, where he visited new state-of-the-art facilities including a women’s health suite, operating suite and patient services centre.
Minister for Public Enterprise and Reform Brendan Howlin has said staff shortages in any specific areas would be dealt with by redeployment and, if necessary, recruitment. He acknowledged that some staff had given very short notice of retirement but said there was “no escaping” this and planning had been ongoing for a long time.
Mr Howlin denied that the scheme was enhanced or incentivised as it merely allowed retiring public servants to have their pensions and lump sums based on pay levels they enjoyed before pay was cut in 2010.
The State’s pension bill has soared by 67 per cent over the past five years, to €2.39 billion last year. Under the Public Sector Reform Plan, the Government plans to cut overall public sector numbers by 37,500 between 2008 and 2015. This reduction of 15 per cent is expected to shave €2.5 billion off the public sector pay bill in the period.
Dr Reilly also said today that the four new board members he appoints to the VHI will help drive down costs in private healthcare.
“I’ve made it very clear to the VHI that as the largest health insurance provider in the country...I’m concerned that they [must] drive down costs,” he said.
