Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I just want to begin where we left off on 16 February. I had a line of questioning that Mr. Watt and Mr. Reid said on the day they were not too familiar with. On 16 February, the Irish Independentran a major story to the effect that there were serious morale problems within the HSE because there were people in the very top echelons who had high pay hikes. The paper referenced Mr. Watt's €81,000 pay hike. However, people in middle and senior management grades had not had that. It was seen as being a barrier. How were people to progress Sláintecare when morale was low? At the day, Mr. Watt and Mr. Reid said they had not read the article and did not have the awareness. I ask them both what are the barriers to have the sanctioned pay increases for the management tiers below them? What are the barriers to having that implemented and paid to them? Is that a morale factor in terms of delivering Sláintecare on the ground?