Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We have found out that the CEO of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, is getting a €30,000 top-up payment in addition to his HSE payment of €110,000. The secret top-up is taken out of receipts from the shops in the hospital. I am sure the people working in the shops only get the average minimum wage.

In a statement the hospital board complained that the information had been given in confidence to the HSE. It seems that board members were upset that a secret payment had been made known to the public at a time when there are cuts in services for children and when staff are expected to take more cuts on foot of the Haddington Road agreement. The arrangements were seemingly made between the boards and the CEOs. There are political appointees on every single hospital board in this country. There are a Labour Party councillor and a Fine Gael Party councillor on the board of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.

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