James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The organisation to which the Deputy referred is a section 39 agency, not a section 38. Accordingly, it is not subject to public pay policy. Nonetheless, I, as well as the Government, believe that those organisations and charities in receipt of major taxpayer funding, anything over €250,000, should be in line with those pay policies. This process we initiated has been very careful and has followed due process. It has been fastidious in its fairness and continues to be so. We are not for turning on this matter and we will pursue this to the end. The idea of the necessity for an independent inquiry is not correct when the HSE is fully in control and bringing all these matters to light, seriatim, one by one. It will continue until we reach the end which we all wish to achieve, namely utter transparency around how public moneys are spent when they are given to organisations, be they voluntary, section 38s or section 39s. It is critically important to ensure, as all Members opposite agree, that when we give money for charitable purposes, we can have confidence that the money is spent in the manner for which it was intended, namely for services for those in need of them. That remains our position.

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