Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 12, lines 25 to 27, to delete all words from and including “without” in line 25 down to and including “given” in line 27.

This amendment is very simple. It seeks to ensure that the chief executive officer of the HSE should not hold any additional office. We saw that the previous director general had a role in another company. Running the HSE is a big job and it should take up all of the time of the post holder. We should be absolutely sure there is no scope for any conflict of interest or any suggestion of a conflict of interest. It is not appropriate for the CEO to have another job or to sit on boards. His or her focus should solely and entirely be on running the HSE. There should be no division. This amendment proposes to leave the wording, "The chief executive officer shall not hold any other office employment or carry on any business", and delete the subsequent words, "without the consent of the Board and the Board shall inform the Minister in writing of any such consent given." The previous holder of the position informed the Minister he had an additional role outside the HSE. I am not suggesting there was anything untoward about that but it is not a good idea. This latitude was available and given previously. We need to remove it and ensure the person in charge of the HSE is focused solely and entirely on that job.