It’s being reported today that the Minister for health Simon Harris was completely unaware of a letter outlining a recruitment freeze in the HSE.
According to the labour party’s health spokesperson, Alan Kelly, a letter he obtained details a plan to halt recruitment and ban overtime for a three month period.
The letter was issued by the HSE’s Deputy Director general Liam Woods. Alan Kelly says when he mentioned the letter to Minister Harris yesterday, he admitted he was unaware of it’s existence.
According to the Irish Independent, Minister Harris later spoke with the HSE and has been assured that recruitment restrictions would not be implemented unless hospital management fail to outline their budget plans.