Varadkar: HSE directive will not ban all new recruitment
Minister for Health Leo Varadkar later denied that a new HSE directive will mean a total ban on new recruitment.
“What the directive does is prevent different bits of the health service from recruiting unfunded posts, or without authorisation,” he said.
“And we did have a problem last year and in previous years, of individual hospitals, individual care providers, and individual parts of the health service going off and recruiting people without authorisation or funding to do so
“And that can’t go on – we do need to come in on budget.”
The HSE is implementing recruitment controls.
It is understood managers have received a memo, saying no new staff will be hired unless others leave.
The Irish Times reports that interim employment controls kicked in at the beginning of this month.
An HSE staff member will have to leave before someone else can be hired.
The HSE boss Tony O'Brien is quoted as saying that there was record recruitment in the health service last year, with more than 4,500 new staff taken on.
