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Pay Levels

Howlin: HSE pay breach 'should be addressed'

It emerged today that some senior health staff are being paid amounts that breach official policy.

http://youtu.be/cFlIB4WvNB4

(Video TheJournal.ie/YouTube)

THE TÁNAISTE AND Minister Brendan Howlin have both commented on today’s reports that some senior executive health staff are being paid more than allowed under official guidelines.

Speaking before this morning’s Cabinet meeting, Minister Howlin said that “there should be transparency in the pay levels of anybody on the public payroll”.

He said that any breaching of guidelines “has to be addressed” and that the HSE had indicated it intended to address the issue.

A story in today’s Irish Times revealed that one in four of the 43 State-funded voluntary hospitals and health agencies are breaching official policy when it comes to how much they pay senior executives.

New Department of Health figures show that some senior health staff are receiving pay packages of “well over €200,000″ per year.  This includes their salaries plus top-up payments.

Howlin said that there is an “opaqueness” about what some are paid in the health sector, and that should be clarified, and “we should know exactly what people are paid”.

He also said that there should not be “top-ups” on pay.

(Video TheJournal.ie/YouTube)

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said this morning that the government has guidelines on pay in the public sector, and on publicly-funded bodies, “and we want to see those guidelines complied with”.

He said that the Department of Health has been undertaking a study of the levels of pay in the health service to establish if they are complying with the government’s guidelines.

The study has not been completed yet and he said he will base his judgement on what comes out in the study.

Read: “We are putting our trust in the HSE” – junior doctors>

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