The head of the Mid-Western Health Board said yesterday he was disappointed at "being forced to sacrifice" certain jobs in an attempt to comply with an order from the Minister for Health to make savings.
The strong words came as the health board met in Limerick to be told 65 jobs could not be filled this year. This was as a result of a cut in the board's payroll by €850,000.
"This means that we will be slower in making progress in improving and expanding certain services," the board's chief executive, Mr Stíofán de Búrca, said.
"We are in a situation where there are no easy answers.
"It is disappointing that we are being forced to sacrifice certain posts even though some of them had not been filled for quite a while for various reasons, such as international shortages of certain medical and paramedical grades," he said.
The reduction of 65 posts is made up as follows: management and administrative, 33.5, nursing seven, paramedical, 5.5, medical and dental, four, technical and maintenance, one, support and other, 14.
Mr de Búrca said it was important to note that the board had "a pretty impressive financial record" so far this year".
He added that he was hoping it would reach a break-even situation at the end of this year.
The job reductions, he stressed, were being achieved by cutting vacant posts rather than by laying off staff.
The move by the MWHB follows a cut of €1.9 million in its allocation from the Department this year.
Similar cost-saving steps have been adopted by other health boards in line with Department of Health instructions.
All have provoked anger but the one which caused most uproar was the announcement by the Western Health Board that it would have to make 169 staff redundant.
It provoked a threat of industrial action by SIPTU members but the action planned for University College Hospital in Galway next week was deferred on Thursday following progress in talks with the health board.
The talks resume on Monday.