Mr. Declan Doyle:

I wish to be associated with the remarks of Mr. Brian Kerr on our non-attendance at the meeting of 27 February 2014. I too regret if offence was caused to the members of the Committee of Public Accounts. Let me reiterate his comments on our commitment to providing responses that are as fulsome as possible within the law.
I will focus on issues relating to the remuneration of the chief executive and the Rehab Group senior management team in my role as chairman of the remuneration committee of the Rehab Group board.
I note from the queries that were raised at the Committee of Public Account that members are interested in understanding how the remuneration committee works. The committee's duties focus on ensuring the ongoing appropriateness and relevance of the remuneration of the chief executive and the senior management team. The committee comprises at least four members of the non-executive board of the group. We report annually to the board on our activities. Our meetings can be attended by the chief executive and external advisers, as appropriate but not as a matter of course. I must stress that no individual can be involved or was involved in any decisions as to his or her own remuneration.
The committee commissions reports or surveys to help it fulfil its obligations as required. Out duties include specifically determining and agreeing with the board the broad policy for the remuneration of the chief executive and senior management team. In undertaking that duty, we take account of a range of factors, including the need to be competitive in the marketplace. The objective of the policy is to ensure that members of the senior management team are provided with appropriate incentives to encourage enhanced performance and are in a fair and responsible manner rewarded for their individual contributions to the success of the group. Within this agreed pay policy, the committee specifically determined the total remuneration package of the chief executive, including bonuses where appropriate. It also determined the salary range for the senior management team. It approves the design of performance related pay schemes for the chief executive and senior management team and determines the policy for and scope of pension arrangements for senior executives. The committee agrees the policy for authorising claims for expenses from the chief executive and chairperson and non-executive directors. Under its terms of reference, the committee may review its own performance, constitution and terms of reference to ensure it is operating at maximum effectiveness and recommend any change it considers necessary to the board for approval.
Following the events of recent months, the members of the remuneration committee have requested that a review of the work of the committee be undertaken by Dr. Molloy as part of the broader review of governance and structures to be undertaken by him. In Mr. Kerr's presentation, he referred to the rights of individual employees to confidentiality in relation to his or her remuneration and conditions of employment. In the course of this controversy surrounding Rehab in recent months, we found it quite difficult to balance these legal rights with the requests from the Committee of Public Accounts for details of salaries, pensions and bonuses of certain individuals. The board is under legal constraints regarding disclosure of information about the terms and conditions of employees, given the legal right to confidentiality enjoyed by these individuals. This is not a circle we can square easily.
The right to confidentiality in respect of sensitive personal information is a right that is enshrined in data protection legislation passed by the Oireachtas following legislation passed at European level. However, it is important to state that in the interest of transparency we are committed to disclosing as much detail as we can to the Committee of Public Accounts. In order to meet this commitment, we have undertaken a number of steps to ensure we are as transparent as possible within the law. On 17 February, the board of the Rehab Group disclosed details of the remuneration of our former chief executive following her decision to waive her rights voluntarily to confidentiality in relation to the details of her terms and conditions of her remuneration. In the past week we have taken additional steps in an attempt to secure permission for further disclosures to the Committee of Public Accounts. We wrote to the former CEO and formally requested that she provide us with clear indication of the information she permits us to communicate on the details of her remuneration as chief executive up to and including the date of her cessation of employment, as well as her pension provision. In legal correspondence received from our former chief executive last night, her lawyers specifically prohibited us from any disclosures in relation to her pay and her terms and conditions of employment. She also expressly withdrew any waiver she had previously given. I would like to quote from the letter we received from her solicitors, Eames Solicitors:

Please note that any disclosure in relation to our client's pay and/or terms and conditions of employment by the Rehab Group, subsidiaries, employees, servants, agents or advisers is strictly prohibited. In this regard and in light of the previous disclosure by Rehab Group and recent commentary in particular by the Public Accounts Committee, our client now expressly withdraws any waiver she may have previously given in good faith as such details could be disclosed in limited circumstances. Our client is entitled to her confidentiality rights and to the protection of her personal private and professional information and correspondence at law and under the data protection Acts, no such disclosure is permitted. In that regard no permission is given to the Rehab Group and/or subsidiaries or its employees, servants, agents or advisers to discuss, disclose or comment in any way on these matters, including without limitation information on our client 's terms and conditions of employment or any cessation of same to the Public Accounts Committee or any such body. Any breach of this obligation under the data protection Acts or at law will result in legal action to protect the interest of our client against the bodies and persons responsible and this letter will be adduced in evidence of those circumstances.