Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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159. To ask the Minister for Health the regulation in place in terms of public service employees, in particular in terms of external applicants for senior roles such as the CEO of the Health Service Executive and other senior officials in the HSE with regard to compliance with SIPO behaviour standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20588/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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State Bodies, including the HSE, which come under the aegis of the Department of Health must comply with the requirements in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's (DPER) Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies.  The provisions in the Code include the requirements for compliance with relevant legislation and governance obligations. They include compliance with the Ethics in Public Office Acts. The Standards in Public Office (SIPO) Commission has a supervisory role in relation to compliance with the legislation and standards. 

The principal objective of the Ethics in Public Office legislation is to demonstrate that those who are participating in public life do not seek to derive personal advantage from the outcome of their actions. To meet this objective, a statutory framework has been put in place to regulate the disclosure of interests and to ensure that other measures are taken to satisfy the broad range of obligations arising under the legislation. The legislation is founded on the presumption of integrity but recognises that specific measures should exist to underpin compliance. The Director General and other senior officials in the HSE are prescribed as 'designated positions' under the Acts.  Any person filling a 'designated position' must submit an annual written statement in respect of their interest (and those of a spouse, child or stepchild) which could materially influence them in performance of official duties.

Therefore the Director General and other senior officials in HSE who hold designated positions must submit an annual written Statement of Interests for the purposes of Section 18 of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995.