Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to say at the outset that I am conscious we are talking about an individual who is not here to speak for himself. I do not want to impugn anybody's character or integrity but in the public interest I would be failing in my duties if I did not raise this issue. We need to get a full statement of clarification following reports that the director general of the Health Service Executive, HSE, Mr. Tony O'Brien, had received a salary top-up for a job he was no longer doing. It would appear that Mr. O'Brien initially received the payment when he was the head of the National Cancer Screening Service in 2006 and had taken on extra responsibilities as project director of the national plan for radiation oncology on which he did a very fine job. It is now reported that he retained the top-up payment after he moved to the role of assistant director of the HSE in 2010 and continued to be paid until 2012 when he took over the running of the HSE. The error, as it was described, was only discovered when Mr. O'Brien took up his new role in 2012, and no fault on the part of Mr. O'Brien has been found. However, serious questions remain about how a senior HSE official could have been paid a salary top-up for a job he had already left. When the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform was initially asked to ratify the HSE director general salary of €195,000 a year, it refused amid concerns that 18% of Mr. O'Brien's previous salary should not have been allowed. We need to know whether Mr. O'Brien legally retained an 18% top-up on his salary for two years after he left the job, and whether the HSE continued to pay the top-up regardless of the Department's concerns.

We must remember the context in this regard because Mr. O'Brien has indicated that the HSE will claw back funds from any hospitals or health agencies that continue to flout a ban on top-up payments to senior officials. Could an arrangement be put in place whereby Mr. O'Brien's salary is reduced by the relevant amount he received annually in the years after he joined the HSE?

I watched Mr. O'Brien's appearance before the Committee of Public Accounts and he was quite forceful in saying that a full review of the agencies and voluntary hospitals would be carried out and, where possible, that the money would be recouped. He went on to state that the nod and wink practice of the past is over. If there is to be consistency and credibility in dealing with this issue we need a full statement from the director general and the Minister in that context.

There is another key question that must be addressed rather than me trying to extract this information over a period. When Mr. O'Brien was negotiating as director general designate with the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform did he request, and this is critically important, that a top-up payment should be included in a financial package as part of the new salary? That is what we need to find out because we know that some section 38 voluntary organisations and agencies in hospitals have been involved in the practice of top-up payments. The Committee of Public Accounts is dealing with that and the HSE director general, Mr. Tony O'Brien, was very forceful on the issue but to be consistent and to have credibility we must have that information. The key question is whether Mr. O'Brien requested that top-up be included in his financial package when he was negotiating with the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and finalising that package for the role of director general designate of the HSE.

See this speech in context