Results 10,961-10,980 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I am sorry to cut across the Deputy. I accept the report in full. Specific to the protocols, there were layers of process still to be gone through. Certainly, by the time the proposed secondment was stopped, there were significant parts of the process that had yet to be gone through, such as discussions with the HRB, discussions with me, as Minister, and the Estimates process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I do not think it would be appropriate for me to give my views in a place like this in terms of the judgment of anyone within the Department. Ultimately, they all report into me. Any conversations like that I would have directly with civil servants within the Department. What I can say is there were important safeguards or protocols that had yet to be gone through. That is absolutely correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy for the questions. With his indulgence I might take a bit of time to answer these questions because they go to the core of some of the concerns I have heard raised. The first question is: who is in charge? I have seen this written about by many people. I am not sure how many of them have worked in the Department of Health. I have seen this question raised. I would say...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: After the report's completion, I wrote to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. His officials are looking at the recommendations in detail. I imagine whatever is agreed will then apply to the entire Civil Service. This was obviously a secondment between the Civil Service and the public service. I am working on the assumption that all Departments will then implement whatever changes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy’s first point was on the person who was involved reporting back. Remember, that was just a report that we asked for over the weekend to establish the facts. As the Deputy will be aware, I then commissioned a full independent report to exactly his point. To the Deputy’s second question, civil servants implement Government policy that they do not agree with every...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I am speaking to the Deputy’s first question, which was whether I can expect civil servants to implement Government policy they disagree with. My answer is “Yes”. I would go further and say that civil servants in every Department implement policy every day that they may not fully agree with.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Sorry.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The important point here is that the Secretary General and the Department will implement any recommendations agreed by Government. There is no question about that. That is exactly what will happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I accept the report in full.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I accept that finding and all of the other findings. The protocols that would be gone through at that point had not been gone through. For example, the HRB had not been consulted with; it would be in the future. The Estimates process had not happened. Obviously, by definition, the Estimates process would have been happening later on that year. Before either of those, there would have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I might ask the head of HR to comment after I do. My understanding is the circular referenced is with regard to secondments between Departments within the Civil Service. My understanding is that there is not a circular that applies from the Civil Service to the public sector or back. I think one of the benefits of the report we have is that a circular applying specifically from Civil...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I can come in on that, if I may. I wrote to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to exactly this effect. I wrote to him on the back of the report to ask that we would have guidance on exactly these kind of secondments from the Civil Service to the public service and vice versa.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: There are various things the Deputy said within his question that I would not agree with. However, to his core question on-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will answer the question and then come straight to that, if I may. The Deputy asked whether procedures are now in place on the back of the proposed secondment and the issues with it. The answer is “No” because that is exactly what we have written to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to come back to us with because that is its...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Not at all. I am not challenging it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: As I said, I accept the report in full. We are implementing all the recommendations of the report. I am just making the additional point that there are further parts to a process that would be required.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I am happy to state again and I will keep stating if it is of use that I accept the report in full. I accept the findings and recommendations of the report. We are now implementing the recommendations of the report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I accept that the letter of intent certainly referenced the funding. As the Deputy says, it was linked to Dr. Holohan. I have two points to make. I agree that the funding was linked to one individual leading the funding. It is important that we bear in mind that if the funding had gone through the Estimates process and been agreed, it would have gone through the Health Research Board....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: There are various points there, if I may address them. The first is about it being linked to an individual. As I said previously, it was, in the letter, linked to an individual. There is no dispute about that. The point I am making is that the €2 million proposal for research funding would not have been €2 million which Dr. Holohan or anyone academic could have decided how...