Health board chiefs meet to discuss job cuts

JOB cuts in Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary were discussed by senior management in the Mid-Western Health Board yesterday.

The Department of Health has told the board not to fill 65 jobs as part of the freeze on the hiring of 800 health services staff nationwide.

Yesterday, an MWHB spokesperson said spending was on target and the board hoped to break even at the end of the year.

By the end of June, the board had overspent by 100,000, out of an annual budget of 490 million.

The MWHB employs 6,000 staff and is expected to clarify what areas the jobs freeze will affect.

Details of the steps to be taken to rein in health spending in Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Waterford and South Tipperary will not emerge for almost another month.

The South-Eastern Health Board has been told by the department not to fill 60 posts.

SEHB acting chief executive John Magner is preparing a report for the September meeting of the board.

Mr Magner is discussing the implications of the job cuts with management to decide what posts will not be filled in the next year.

Bar the Western Health Board, which is laying off 200 staff, all health boards have confirmed job freezes, and cuts in their area are in line with demands of the department.

WHB management will be quizzed by department officials later this week on why they are cutting 200 jobs when the department told them only 80 job cuts were needed.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny again criticised the Government for misleading the public about the health of State finances.

“The fact of the matter is the Irish people were told time and again by ministers, and by the Government as a unit, that the economy was in a sound position, that there was no intention of having any cutbacks and that is not now the case,” Deputy Kenny said.

He called on the Taoiseach to come clean on the economy’s true state.

“This probably cannot happen now until the Dáil resumes, and even then, a question mark remains as to whether we are going to get the full definition of where we actually stand on the economy,” he said.

“I hope that when the Dáil does resume, that the full facts will be laid before the public so that we know and are informed of what the true situation actually is.”