The Labour Court recommended a once-off €2,000 payment for each HSE South staff member whose move from Heatherside Hospital in Buttevant to Heather House in Cork City took them beyond a 45-kilometre radius. The recommendation, signed on 15 April 2011, followed a dispute with INMO/IMPACT over travel costs, travel time and redeployment.
The unions sought compensation for the 52-kilometre move and options for staff unwilling to transfer. HSE South had offered a bus, one extra annual leave day in 2011 and 2012 for transferring staff, and consideration of redeployment. The Court recommended two extra leave days in each of those years instead. It also recommended that management seek approval to reopen an early retirement or voluntary exit scheme, and that the unions cooperate on redeployment criteria while management promptly share available opportunities.