Health service has employment ceiling not recruitment embargo, says official

THERE is no embargo on recruitment in the health service but there is an employment ceiling, a leading Department of Health official told yesterday’s meeting of the Joint Committee of Health and Children.

Some committee members laughed with derision when department assistant secretary Bernard Carey made the admission.

Last week, the committee was told that St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin was not allowed to hire desperately needed staff for cystic fibrosis (CF) services because of staff ceilings, even though Health Minister Mary Harney has said no such staff ceiling exists.