A plan by the chief executive of the Health Service Executive Prof Brendan Drumm to hold a briefing at a Dublin hotel for Oireachtas members next Tuesday has been postponed.
The private meeting was originally scheduled to take place at the Davenport Hotel but the venue was subsequently due to be switched as a result of a ban on the hiring of hotels by the HSE as it attempts to reduce its €200 million plus financial deficit.
However, it emerged yesterday that the briefing had now been postponed for a month. While one caller to this newspaper suggested the meeting had been put off by Prof Drumm because he is currently under fire over the HSE recruitment ban and other cost cutting measures, the HSE itself in a letter to Oireachtas members yesterday said the meeting had been postponed as it understood the date didn't suit many members of the Dáil and Seanad.
"It has been pointed out that this date does not suit many members and therefore, in consultation with the Ceann Comhairle's office, the briefing has been deferred to Thursday 8th of November at 8.30am in the Members Restaurant Dáil Éireann," the letter said.