NECESSARY FRONTLINE health staff and teachers can be appointed this year despite the Government’s decision to freeze all appointments elsewhere in the public service, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has announced.
A ban on permanent and temporary recruitment – and all promotions and regrading – will be enforced until the end of 2010 in the Civil Service, local authorities, semi-state companies, the Garda and the Defence Forces, the Department of Finance confirmed. But it rejected charges that the move was an embargo.
“An embargo would imply that no filling of vacancies whatsoever could take place. The Minister will have the authority to allow for the filling of some vacancies in very exceptional circumstances.”
Staff can be redeployed from departments and other State bodies to where they are needed – indicating that transfers will be possible between departments and State agencies, such as Fás, which does not happen now.
Reforms will “also address legal, technical and historical barriers to movement across the various parts of the public service . . . it is intended that these staff will be available to be reassigned to areas of greater priority, including where there are sudden surges of activity which cannot be adequately met by the existing staff of the departments/bodies concerned,” according to a department note published last night.
Short-term contracts will occur only where redeployment has failed to fill “essential” vacancies. “Any exceptions to this principle, which will arise in very limited circumstances only, require the prior sanction of the Minister for Finance.”
The staff freeze will apply to the HSE, but “there will be flexibility to allow for the continued development of integrated healthcare, particularly primary and community care, care of the elderly and people with disabilities”.
The department said there would be a “a general moratorium on recruitment, promotion and acting appointments” in health sector management and administration “except for hospital consultants, certain other health professionals such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, etc and emergency medical technicians”.
The number of teachers and special needs assistants will be capped at the number in place in September this year and the Department of Education will fill vacancies emerging afterwards, subject to a ceiling on numbers.
“So it would not be true to say that people currently doing teacher training courses will have no opportunity for employment in the years ahead.”
The Impact trade union warned yesterday that up to 14,000 temporary HSE staff could lose their jobs if the planned non-renewal of temporary contracts went ahead.
