Minister for Health Mary Harney told the Dáil today there is scope for voluntary redundancies in the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Ms Harney said the number of 'grade eight' middle-managers in the health service had grown by 37 per cent, from 521 to 713, since the establishment of the HSE and that the numbers were ahead of expectations.
The HSE has imposed a round of cutbacks, including a recruitment freeze which began last month, in an attempt to reduce its €230 million deficit.
Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly said the people responsible for allowing the current overspend and "who did not raise any questions until September" should be accountable instead of the patient.
Dr Reilly said that if Ms Harney believes there is scope redundancies then any "essential cost-savings should be targeted at unnecessary bureaucracy and away from the frontline".