TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said the number of new staff recruited by the HSE this year could be just over half of what is funded. 

Speaking in the Dáil today, Martin said that the “current market situation” dictates that 5,500 new staff could be hired despite funding being in place for 10,000.  

Martin was facing questions from Labour leader Alan Kelly TD following an article in the Sunday Business Post which contained details of a secret recording of Department of Health officials in which the officials spoke about “fake targets”. 

The leaked recording revealed that officials in the meeting said that a stated recruitment target of 10,000 was “not going to happen” and that “fake targets” were driven by politicians. 

It was also reported that officials made comments about “dysfunction” and distrust in the health sector.

“Officials in the Department of Health are saying that the idea we will recruit 10,000 people is – and I apologise in advance for the language used by one of the officials – “batshit”,” Kelly told the Dáil today. 

In response, Martin noted that the article was based on a “secretly recorded transcript” and that “public servants and people more generally are entitled to brainstorm or have meetings without being secretly recorded”. 

Martin denied that the target figure of 10,000 staff recruited was driven by politicians.

“The HSE came forward last year, not politicians, with a figure of 16,000.  It was presented to a health committee meeting that the HSE said it would recruit 16,000 in 2021,” he said. 

This year, when it initially made its bid, it said it would recruit 10,000.  Its HR team is now saying that, given the current labour market situation, it could be 5,500 but it will try to trump that.  

He added: “Discussions are now under way between the Department of Health and the HSE in respect of utilising the funding that will not be used for the 10,000 recruitment figure on waiting list initiatives and other initiatives within the health service.”

Kelly had described the leaks as “extraordinary” and said it suggested to him that  “we are further away than we have ever been from the single-tier public health service we desire”. 

“To be frank, the commentary in the meeting that was the subject of the leak was quite derogatory from a relationship point of view as regards how we are ever going to achieve the service we want,” he said.  

In response to Kelly’s categorisation of the meeting, An Taoiseach said that he was “obviously not there and do not understand the context or tone” of the transcript.

He added, however, that “not all the material in it was accurate”.  

Speaking yesterday, HSE CEO Paul Reid confirmed that there is funding in place for 10,000 people but this may not be met.  

“When we look at the recruitment process for this year coming, we have funding for 10,000 people. We will be striving to achieve as close as possible to that. The reality, as we know what the market is, there’s a big global demand,” Reid said yesterday.

Reid also said report in the Sunday Business Post failed to reflect “joint engagement” between the HSE and the Department of Health.