Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is accepted that the €20,000 approximately should not have been paid. Will it be repaid? The Central Remedial Clinic scandal of top-up payments which were in breach of the cap and which rightly caused uproar is under investigation by the HSE because it is a body that is within the remit of the State. Should this not apply to all semi-State companies, including a small company such as Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, the CEO of which is on a salary of €136,000 per annum, which is more than a Minister is paid, a car allowance of €20,000 per annum and who has also been paid an unexplained additional €20,000? The Minister can correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it, payment in lieu of untaken leave is not permitted in the public sector. The payment of €20,000 equates to 38 days leave. No one working in the public sector has 38 days leave per annum. To boot, staff at DLHC have told me the CEO did take holiday leave that year. This is strange stuff and there are a series of questions that need to be answered. The Government needs to take a more hands on approach to ensure we know the remuneration, including bonuses, being paid to top executives of the HSE and other public bodies within the remit of the State who are paid with public money in order that we know whether they are creaming it, while ordinary employees are being shafted.

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