Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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115. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his role in setting the salary level for the Secretary General of the Department of Health; if he is satisfied that the new salary is justified; and if he has concerns that the increase in salary for this position will lead to further pay claims in other Departments. [32040/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have statutory responsibility for the terms and conditions of service, including remuneration, of civil servants, as set out in the Civil Service Regulation Acts.

In meeting these responsibilities as regards the terms to apply for recruitment to the post of Secretary General in the Department of Health, I engaged with the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health and the Secretary General to the Government.

In that context, I took account of a number of factors, including that the post is a highly complex one with a very challenging brief, particularly so in the midst of a global pandemic. There are very significant responsibilities attached to this role including: the ongoing management of the response to the COVID public health emergency; implementing the Government’s ambition for the rollout of Sláintecare; and the management of the greatly increased budget of €22 billion for Health in 2021.

Reflecting these, I consider that a salary of €292,000 is commensurate with the scale of the responsibilities and the unique challenges attached to this role, not least at the current time.

There are no changes to pay rates for other Secretary General posts, and I do not envisage this decision resulting in any change in relation to general pay policy at senior level.

As the deputy may be aware, I have previously provided information relating to my responsibilities regarding this matter in the context of my statement and appearance before the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach on 2nd February last.

Documents related to the matter have also been published by my Department, and are available on the Department’s webpage.