Job cuts to target 2,500 ‘surplus’ public admin staff

A new raft of public service redundancies with a target of 2,500 “surplus” people will be largely focused on reducing excess numbers working in health service administration.

In October, Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin announced plans to seek voluntary redundancies to cut the public wage bill, but no details on numbers were provided at the time.

Mr Howlin now says he plans to begin work in the new year on the scheme, with a target of 2,500 people.

“The ones that have been identified first up are 1,500 in the HSE, the vast bulk of whom are administrators. There are others in education and in agriculture who are surplus to need,” he said.

It is unclear where the redundancies might be found in the other sectors, but it is possible that administration staff requirements in the vocational education sector could be slightly reduced next year. Under a bill currently before the Dáil, the 33 vocational education committees will be amalgamated to form 16 Education and Training Boards next year, leading to efficiencies in areas such as human resources, payroll, IT, and other parts of their spending.

Under Government plans to reduce public sector numbers announced in October, each government department was asked to identify areas with surplus staff who could be offered redundancy or redeployment. It was understood at the time that redundancy packages will be similar to those offered to HSE staff in 2010, meaning three weeks’ pay for each year of service in addition to statutory redundancy entitlements of two weeks’ pay per year worked.

The 2,500 redundancies to be sought will contribute towards the Government’s target of a 10,000 reduction in overall public servant numbers — from 292,000 to 282,000 — by 2014, with the balance set to come from the non-replacement of retiring staff.