Nine hundred people have already expressed an interest in the HSE voluntary redundancy scheme announced yesterday, the Dáil has heard.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen told Labour leader Eamon Gilmore he accepted it was a “challenging timescale” to have the 4,000 redundancies in place by the end of the year but “it has to be done in the context of the availability of funds” in 2010.
He said there had been “900 expressions of interest overnight”.
Mr Gilmore had questioned whether it was realistic to put a deadline of November 19th for applications for the scheme and to have it “done and dusted” by the end of the year.
The Labour leader asked why HSE staff had to decide within two weeks when it had taken three to four years for a voluntary redundancy scheme to be introduced. He pointed out that as far back as 2004 there had been complaints about “too much bureaucracy in the system” and in October 2007 Minister for Health Mary Harney had said there was “scope for redundancies”
Mr Gilmore asked if the deadlines could be extended, but Mr Cowen said the funding was in place for 2010.
All party leaders also condemned the throwing of red paint at Ms Harney yesterday at the launch of a primary care and mental health centre at Ballyfermot. Mr Cowen said that Ms Harney was “back at her desk” shortly afterwards and he expected the authorities would deal with the issue.