Redundancy plan must be carefully targeted, says Finance Department
The Department of Finance has today denied it is playing down suggestions that it is working on a policy to implement redundancy packages for people working in the civil service.
It follows comments made by the Finance Minister Brian Lenihan in the Dáil during which he said he would like to see a planned redundancy scheme for the HSE rolled out across the wider public sector.
"Last July, I announced that the Department of Health and Children would be drawing up proposals for a targeted scheme to reduce surplus staff in the HSE," said Lenihan yesterday.
"A framework for such proposals has recently been received by my Department and this is now being examined. The extension of such proposals to other areas is also being examined."
A spokesman for the Minister has said today that the Government has previously stated its intention to look at overstaffing in certain areas of the public sector.
But, the spokesperson said, it must be very carefully targeted to ensure the public service does not lose expertise or its best people.
