Results 15,561-15,580 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Excuse me. Mr. Martin gave a robust defence of the integrity, position and decision-making capacities of the directors. He cited company law and suggested that to respect the regulations, rules and oversight associated with substantial public moneys would somehow run counter to the standing of the board. I am putting it to him that is rubbish. It is a very lame defence of what went on...

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Would Mr. Nugent accept now, with the benefit of hindsight, that the board has failed in that? In fact, the actions of the directors, collectively, have potentially undermined the ethos of the clinic and have, one imagines, caused terrible distress for the staff and users of the services. They have also gravely dented public confidence, the public upon which the CRC relies for charitable...

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is not the issue and Mr. Nugent well knows it. The issue here is about the board, when making a senior appointment, going through a process that is open, transparent and beyond reproach. I would imagine that in any set of circumstances for a service such as the CRC, that would be the standard to be applied but particularly so when the clinic is in receipt of substantial public moneys....

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Okay. I thank Mr. Kiely for that but none the less, there are 278 posts. I do not want to quibble about it.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Will Mr. Nugent or Mr. Kiely describe the categories of staff that encompasses?

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I thank Mr. Kiely. Is that not the fabric of the Central Remedial Clinic? They are the people who so excellently and in such a dedicated fashion care for people with disabilities. Their record speaks for itself and their public reputation has been outstanding, and remains so. Would Mr. Kiely not agree?

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Curiously enough, they are also people who were never considered for additional payments or top-ups - do not mind the vocabulary - from the clinic. Is that not an interesting thing? I will tell the witnesses why I raise it and why it struck me so forcibly. I read a letter from Mr. Nugent to Mr. Leo Kinsella, regional director of operations, HSE Dublin north east, dated 19 July 2013. Ms...

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I think everybody would applaud those. Mr. Nugent indicated to me that the average charitable income garnered through charity and the lottery is approximately €1.5 million per annum.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I put it to Mr. Nugent that the total top-up bill per annum was working out at €280,000.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is a very substantial portion of the moneys raised through the generosity of people and public confidence in the clinic.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I do not understand.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am very conversant with the FEMPI legislation, which was not simply aimed at people at the upper scales. FEMPI hit people in public service grades across the board like a hammer-----

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: -----including people on very low salaries.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Nugent started to tell me about the salaries. Is he telling me that there was a cohort of the 278 whole-time equivalent posts, in the case of teachers, nursing staff, carers, and clerical people, who were in line with public sector pay, HSE guidelines and so on? Is that what Mr. Nugent telling me? The issue did not arise with these people.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Nugent already said that.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: So what happened in the Central Remedial Clinic is that the vast majority - it is worth saying this in this forum - of the staff were fully in line, fully compliant with public sector pay policy. They took the belt of the FEMPI legislation. There was no issue there. There is no question mark over their level of remuneration. The controversy and the disquiet arises in respect of five...

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: It was 11 in the clinic's senior management ranks. It strikes from everything said by the witnesses that they find the HSE to be a bit of a pest. They seem to be very happy to take the money. Why would they not be because it is more than 80% of the clinic's entire funding stream? However, when it comes to observing the rules or respecting the governance criteria, they are not so...

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: The board's actions have been deeply disrespectful of the HSE, if I might suggest. It moved unilaterally to put in place Mr. Conlan, a member of the governing fellowship for many years. It spun some entirely implausible fiction around outside assistance from a recruitment agency. It then claimed-----

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: Hold on. It then claimed those files were confidential on the advice of the recruiter. It subsequently made them available to the HSE. On inspection, they reflect the fact that the board went ahead with an entirely internal procedure because it thought that was best.

Public Accounts Committee: Section 38 - Agencies Remuneration (11 Dec 2013)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome the witnesses. Can Mr Nugent clarify the proportion of his overall funding the €16.182 million grant from the HSE represents?