Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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56. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the role his Department played in setting the salary level for the Secretary General of the Department of Health; if he is satisfied that the new salary is justified; if he has concerns that the increase in salary for this position will lead to further pay claims in other Departments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20042/21]

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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What role did the Minister's Department play in setting the salary level for the Secretary General of the Department of Health?

Is the Minister satisfied that the new salary is justified? Does he have concerns that the increase in salary for this position will lead to further pay claims in other Departments?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have statutory responsibility for the terms and conditions of service, including remuneration, of civil servants, as set out in the Civil Service Regulation Acts. In meeting these responsibilities as regards the terms to apply for recruitment to the post of Secretary General in the Department of Health, I engaged with the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health and the Secretary General to the Government. In that context, I took account of a number of factors, including that the post is a highly complex one with a very challenging brief, particularly so in the midst of a global pandemic. There are very significant responsibilities attached to this role including the ongoing management of the response to the Covid-19 public health emergency, implementing the Government’s ambition for the roll-out of Sláintecare and the management of the greatly increased budget of €22 billion for health in 2021. Reflecting these, I consider that the agreed salary is commensurate with the scale of the responsibilities and the unique challenges attached to this role, not least at the current time.

There are no changes to pay rates for other Secretary General posts and I do not envisage this decision resulting in any change to general pay policy at senior level. As the Deputy may be aware, I have previously provided information relating to my responsibilities regarding this matter in the context of my statement and appearance before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach on 2 February last. The Deputy participated fully in the course of that hearing. As the Deputy knows, documents related to the matter have been published by my Department and are available on the Department’s web page.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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An increase of €81,000 is a huge amount of money. We have heard all of these things, such as that this increase is commensurate with the scale of responsibility. How many people never see a salary of €81,000, let alone an increase of €81,000 to €292,000? The issue here and what really angered people is that it was so brazen. An increase of €81,000 is massive and in response to the Minister saying that it is commensurate with the responsibilities, I say there are plenty of people doing very serious jobs for half the amount of the increase that has been granted for the position in question. In hindsight, having heard the public reaction and how outraged people are, the Minister would surely agree that an €81,000 increase is outrageously high. We are now seeing that there is a person who is willing to do the job and waive the €81,000 increase. Would the Minister agree that the €81,000 increase was not needed in the first place?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy has acknowledged, the successful candidate, Robert Watt, has waived the salary increase in light of the economic conditions that apply now. That is being done on a voluntary basis and I acknowledge the decision he has made which is appropriate in the circumstances we are all facing.

I will point out, as I did over the course of the hearing before the Oireachtas joint committee on finance, that only a short number of years ago, an openly advertised competition to recruit a CEO for the HSE, with a salary of €300,000 on offer, failed to attract a candidate who could be appointed. As we know, Mr. Paul Reid was subsequently appointed on a higher salary and he is doing a great job as CEO of the HSE. Over the course of the past Government, a bespoke salary was agreed for the appointment of the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris. He is of the highest calibre and is doing his job to an excellent standard.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I do not think that anyone is suggesting that anyone else is not doing a good job but on the best day of any job, one would not even dream of an €81,000 pay increase. It is absolutely laughable while, at the same time, one wonders what is going on. There are plenty of people doing excellent jobs on a salary of €20,000-plus or, if they are lucky, €30,000-plus. Let us not suggest that anyone is saying that another person is not doing a good job but it is outrageous when we are talking about wages of €292,000 or €300,000.

The Deputy spoke earlier about international talent, as he did when he was before the committee. He has said that there was a good, open competition process, and nobody is suggesting there was not. The point of the matter is that there was an increase of €81,000 when we now see that somebody already employed by the State is perfectly capable of doing the job and has accepted the role. Why was the increase of €81,000 needed?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy knows, we did have an open, competitive process. We had a significant number of applicants, all of whom were treated fairly and assessed on their own individual merits. We had a shortlisting process and an interview process. Independent people were appointed to the Top Level Appointments Committee and they, ultimately, arrived at a decision and made a recommendation.

This Government has ambition for our health service. We are serious about implementing Sláintecare. As the Deputy knows, we recently agreed terms with public health doctors to have a consultant-led public health function in our health service which is an important reform and statement of intent by this Government about the need to dramatically reform the way we do business. The health budget, at over €22 billion, provides the capacity not only to deal effectively with Covid, but also to bring about the reforms that are needed to significantly improve the service for the Irish people. That is very much what we are focused on and it is what the leadership of the Department of Health and the HSE will be concentrating on delivering on behalf of the Government and the Irish people.