26-05-2025
Former Ryanair exec eyes up €300m in savings for HSE
A former senior Ryanair executive called for an 'immediate prohibition' on any new management consultancy contracts for the HSE.
Michael Cawley, an ex-deputy chief executive of the airline who now serves on the HSE board, said €70million had been spent on the contracts last year and a 'detailed report on the benefits, if any' of that spending should be provided.
In an email to colleagues and the chief executive of the HSE, Mr Cawley said that following an analysis of the health service budget, he had identified potential annual savings of up to €300million. Pic: Benoit Doppagne/EPA/REX/Shutterstock (8270281a)
Targets included the 'over-prescribing [and] excess supply' of some medications and properties that were lying idle.
He also said all postal correspondence should be eliminated and that patients, suppliers and others should be contacted via email or text.
Mr Cawley said cutting costs would take people 'out of their comfort zone' but that savings could be made while delivering better services to patients. He wrote: 'The reallocation of resources needs to become an everyday, core activity of the HSE. Pic: Gareth Chaney Collins
'This can only happen if there is full… commitment from management.'
The email said no item of expenditure should be considered too small and that all staff should be motivated to look at where savings could be made.
'It is important that we are prepared to accept the risk of making mistakes. I have found that efficiencies arise in the most unexpected areas while often, where we planned and anticipated savings, none emerged,' he wrote.
'Therefore, we must attack all costs and most importantly not be discouraged by failure to convert.'
Mr Cawley said management would need 'to be firm in its resolve' to face down the inevitable opposition. In a series of suggestions – a number of which have been withheld under FOI laws – he said training expenditure should be reduced to cover only that which was required by regulatory bodies.
He said that in January, the HSE had 83 properties that were identified for sale or disposal out of more than 4,000 around the country. 'There is no reason why they can't be disposed of in the current year,' Mr Cawley wrote.
He said 'very high' computer maintenance charges needed to be tackled, and these were likely caused by old software. The email added: 'IT should do an analysis by end of April to establish how we can reduce these costs, if necessary, by upgrading equipment and by discarding many of the surplus [or] superfluous licences we are paying for.'
Mr Cawley also said a proposal from a company to use public hospital equipment and operating theatres during evenings and weekends should be closely examined.
He said this could lead to a reduction in waiting times without the need for investment in extra capacity, especially where patients did not need a bed afterwards.
Asked about the email, which was sent in late January, an HSE spokesman said: 'The welcome input from the board member was one of many engagements by the CEO as he sought inputs on areas to maximise savings across the health service.'
