John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was very important to clarify from where the €200,000 lump sum came. We have clarified that now. If anybody else wants to follow up on the matter, that is fair enough. Some people present have asked that the board of the CRC resign. I have studied this matter and it seems that the HSE knew very well what was happening. It issued letters and warnings and posed questions for a number of years. The HSE was responsible for policing this. When is enough enough and where does the HSE draw the line with regard to infractions of guidelines which it has responsibility for policing? In my opinion, the HSE was aware for a long period that there was widespread disregard for the guidelines in the context of public sector wages as they relate to section 38 agencies. I am of the view that the executive engaged in a paper-pushing exercise over a number of years and that it never actually drew the line. It never instructed boards or made it clear to them that this type of behaviour would not be tolerated. We have now arrived at the point where public hearings into the matter have been required. If individuals are going to request that board members resign, they should also look to the HSE and those responsible for policing this. The fact that the people who were responsible for that policing work in government should not mean that they are immune from that kind of sanction. I understand that the problem may have been identified and that it was made clear to the boards in question that what they were doing was contrary to public sector wage guidelines. However, the HSE could have done more in the context of dealing with this matter definitively. I do not believe it did deal with it definitively.