Results 3,181-3,200 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: How does that sit with the multiplicity of systems the HSE presumably has, with expertise scattered throughout the system? It strikes me that there is no reason the HSE cannot keep it in-house. Similarly, how does it sit with the Croke Park agreement which specifically provides that outsourcing should be a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: How many staff work in payroll?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The proposition is to outsource the payroll function and redeploy the several hundred officials in question.

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Government has indicated that there will be a further decrease in the number employed in the public service by 2014. What decrease does Mr. O'Brien envisage within the HSE?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Has the HSE been given that target yet?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Where was that indicated?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: The outsourcing of the payroll function for these purposes would modernise and improve these services. They would be delivered externally. I do not know whether the HSE's cost analysis of that approach has been completed. The officials have suggested the HSE has one eye on the costings and one eye on reducing the number in its employment. Is that a fair summation of the HSE's position?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. O'Brien seems certain that an outsourced approach would be more efficient and cost-effective. Has he established whether that is the case, or is he still trying to figure it out?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I understand there will be a process of discussion with the unions, on which I am not proposing to intrude. What stage is the HSE at with the cost-benefit analysis?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: At what stage is it reckoned the HSE will have finished it?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: May I ask about the clinical director allowance?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: According to a table in the documentation furnished to the committee, the allowance was paid to 59 individual clinical directors in 2011 at a rate of €46,000 per annum and at a total cost to the HSE of €2.53 million. Will the officials explain to the committee what the rationale for the allowance is?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Will Mr. O'Brien confirm, for the benefit of those who may be watching, that these positions are filled by consultant doctors?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is 59 the total number? I am conscious that it is a 2011 figure. Is it still 59 in 2012?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: There is no set figure for them but there are 59 consultants in receipt of this allowance. It is a large allowance, however, even as a percentage of the large salaries that consultants get. What is the distinction between the three different contracts for consultants?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: On which contract would these 59 individuals who are in receipt of the clinical director allowance be?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: How does it break down?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: I raise the point because when one examines the size of the allowance as a percentage of salary for consultants, it is quite significant. Second, there are those differentials in terms of rates of pay and, more specifically, to the public health system. If one is paying an allowance like that for such a pivotal position as clinical director, from a policy point of view it would make sense...

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: Why was that?

Public Accounts Committee: Health Service Executive - Review of Allowances (8 Nov 2012)

Mary Lou McDonald: From the taxpayers’ viewpoint of this particular allowance and the salary scales, irrespective of contract, consultants earn very high salaries even by comparison with non-consultant doctors. The argument has been consistently made that these very high salaries are paid to these individuals because they are all the brightest and the best. Mr. O’Brien’s response to me...