Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 25 May 2017

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:00 am

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I agree with that absolutely. On one level it is the case that the HSE and the Department do not have direct responsibility for these former employees. Nonetheless, it was the failure of governance, for which they had a responsibility, which led to the whole debacle. It is unthinkable that the workers would be left out of pocket and stranded. I accept the Chairman's point about the duration of the liquidation process and the fact that there is a timing issue involved. However, I believe we should set out very clearly our expectation regarding an ex gratiapayment to the Minister and to the HSE, as the Chairman has described. We should be saying that now.