Minister Donohoe welcomes publication of the Report on recruitment and retention issues in the health sector

The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform, Paschal Donohoe T.D., today (Tuesday) welcomed the publication of the Report of the Public Service Pay Commission on recruitment and retention issues in certain health sector grades.

The Public Service Pay Commission was tasked under the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 to conduct a comprehensive examination of underlying difficulties in recruitment and retention of staff in the public service. The Commission adopted a modular approach to its work and the report published today reflects a comprehensive examination of recruitment and retention issues in relation to the grades of Medical Consultants, Non Consultant Hospital Doctors and Nurses and Midwives in the health service. Further considerations and work by the Commission on recruitment and retention issues will address other grades and sectors of the public service.

Commenting on the release of the Report, the Minister said: “I welcome the Report from the Public Service Pay Commission, which was considered by Government earlier today. There are many viewpoints on the issues confronting our health services. That is why the independent evidence-based analysis of recruitment and retention provided by the Commission in this Report is so important.

I know this proved to be a complex and challenging endeavour for the Chairman, the members of the Commission, and the Secretariat. I would like, in particular, to thank the Chair and the members of the Commission for the commitment and expertise which they brought to the task.

“I understand there is a commitment between public service employers and staff representatives to meet within four weeks of to discuss issues around implementation of the Report. It is important that this agreed process is adhered to and that space is afforded to the parties to reflect on the detail in this Report and engage in that process.”

The Commission will be making all of its submissions and inputs and the Report publicly available on its website, www.paycommission.gov.ie.