HSE threatens to privatise porter jobs over sick days dispute

THE HSE said last night it is contemplating privatising porter jobs at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick after it emerged the 54 porters averaged nearly five work weeks’ sick time last year.

As relations deteriorated, a spokesman for the HSE outlined a litany of allegations against porters, who earn between €27,500 and almost €34,000.

The porters, according to a HSE spokesman, amassed a total of 1,438.5 lost days at work last year.