Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In terms of that accountability, it would be interesting and certainly a challenge to see if this very heavily remunerated post does increase the accountability of the Secretary General.

I am aware that there has often been frustration in exchanges between the Department of Health and the HSE on who is accountable for decisions. I hope that, given the very considerable remuneration for the heads of both bodies, we will see an increase in accountability.

The Covid crisis was mentioned specifically twice in the Minister's speech as a key aspect of the rationale. However, extreme as the Covid crisis is, it will not last forever. If the Covid crisis was a key motivation, why are we not simply considering a bonus or an increase that would apply during the period of the global pandemic, for example, rather than permanently? The Covid crisis is being used as a rationale, yet, at the same time, the benefits for whoever takes up the role, with its very high salary, will be enjoyed after the pandemic. The salary could very much set the pension rate of the individual. It is one's salary on retirement that determines one's pension. We could be paying for this for a very long period even though the rationale is based on the current circumstances. We have spoken about the very paltry sum student nurses are getting. It is notable that, in France, a bonus of €1,500 was given to front-line healthcare workers, and in Scotland a £500 bonus was given to them, yet the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, told us just three weeks ago that there was a specific exclusion applying to any additional pay or bonus for front-line health care workers in Ireland due to Covid. If we are citing Covid as a special circumstance that makes a difference when hiring the Secretary General, why is it not a special circumstance that makes a difference in the same Department when it comes to a bonus or recognition for front-line health staff?