Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 27 February 2014

Public Accounts Committee

Payments to Section 39 Companies: Discussion

12:30 pm

Photo of Kieran O'DonnellKieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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If the two main organisations in Ireland are being funded to that level by the State, how does Ms Kerins reconcile being paid outside the norms of public pay policy? Our role as a committee is to examine public funds. Virtually all funds are going into two organisations: RehabCare, which has a turnover of about €44 million, and the National Learning Network, which has a turnover of about €43 million.

They are each getting approximately €41 million or €42 million. That amounts to approximately €83 million a year, which means that approximately 95% of the income of the two organisations comes from the State. The logical question is: if that is the case, how does one reconcile the level of funding from the State with an income that appears to be above public pay policy guidelines. Will Ms Kerins flesh this out?