Results 14,221-14,240 of 21,498 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Excellent. I thank the witnesses. I thought Mr. Goulding sounded a bit offended in his opening statement abut the fact that we are here. He went off script and wondered out loud why we are all here. I presume that was just a throwaway comment and I should not read too much of significance into it. I am sure he understands why we are here.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Excellent. There was a deliberate contrivance to avoid cuts in pay for the chosen few in CRC. That was not very honourable. I am assuming, given Mr. Goulding's background and clear attachment to the CRC, that he operates on the basis of equality for employees of that clinic and he does not work to the notion that some are more equal than others.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Did Mr. Goulding up the ante and pay more to Mr. Kiely to compensate him for losses on the State end of salary?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: No?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: So Mr. Goulding rejects Mr. Cregan's finding?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Go raibh maith agat, a Cathaorleach, agus fáilte uilig anseo inniú. I shall start with Mr. Cregan and commend him on his expeditious and thorough work. We would share some of his concerns such as the preferability of having an independent entity carry out the work. That point has been made so I will not labour on it. Nonetheless, I acknowledge his report and the timeliness of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is what I am trying to get from Mr. Cregan. In light of fairness and trying to resolve the issues that we have examined at committee, is it fair to say that at least some responsibility for these matters rests with the HSE?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was that a significant flaw in the HSE's procedures?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was the HSE assertive enough in its dealings with the clinic? I picked up, from the trail of correspondence, that at times some of Mr. Cregan's colleagues in the HSE, in fact his colleague seated beside him, Ms McGuinness, was essentially being told to get lost by the clinic. Perhaps that is rather crude but that would certainly have been the message I took from some of the letters...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was that wise in hindsight?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: The problem is that they did not.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Does Mr. Cregan agree with me that it is not sufficient? Although one would like to make the assumption of goodwill and so on, does he agree that it is not safe to assume, simply on the basis of goodwill, that people, as he put it, live up to these agreements and that there has to be more rigorous enforcement? Is that not a key learning point?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: It was asserted here today that there was no understanding, at board level, that either all employees or some employees were public servants. Mr. Cregan has been through the documentation, paper and records associated with the clinic. Was there an understanding that people were public servants?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I appreciate that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I endorse that view. Presumably, when FEMPI cuts were to be made, there was a discussion or discussions within the clinic.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Cregan has no evidence of discussion on that. However, there is, evidence of Mr. Kiely, the former CEO, implementing those cuts.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is Mr. Cregan saying to me, having looked at the minutes of the board, which he has clearly done, that there was never a discussion around that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: No discussion at all.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Was that in respect of FEMPI?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report and Appropriation Accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 39 - Health Service Executive
Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (3 Jul 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Kiely penned the report which went straight to the remuneration committee but it did not go through the board.