A SENIOR HSE executive is to receive a redundancy package of nearly €400,000 under a deal approved by Government departments, it has been reported. 

The Irish Times reported this morning that, according to the HSE, Dean Sullivan, appointed six years ago as deputy director general, had left his appointment “by agreement and redundancy”. 

The HSE said he would receive €388,983 as part of the exit agreement but “would not receive all of that amount net”, the Irish Times reported. 

The details of Sullivan’s agreement comes in the wake of weeks of controversy surrounding RTÉ’s handling of exit packages for former executives. 

Sullivan was appointed as the HSE’s deputy director general in 2017 and has more recently held the position of the health service’s chief strategy officer. He reportedly would have earned an annual salary of around €200,000 in this position. 

The HSE said Sullivan’s exit package agreement came about following a mediation process, the Irish Times reported.

It reported that HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster said the mediation process provided for confidentiality and that Sullivan had agreed to the release of the amount involved in the package but not to any further aspesct of the content.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister Simon Harris said the payment was agreed following a “lengthy legal process”.

The Minister said the payment was sanctioned by Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Health.

He added that “it would be useful for the HSE to provide more clarity” on the matter today.

HSE response

When contacted, the HSE said that Sullivan had contributed to key developments in the health service, including leading the development of key strategies for programmes of change and also developing the first strategic scorecard process.

HSE CEO Bernard Gloster said the agreement was “approved at all appropriate levels” including by the Departments of Health and Public Expenditure and Reform.

Gloster added that it was based on a mediation process that provides for confidentiality.

“Public bodies are encouraged as a matter of policy to pursue appropriate options such as this. The HSE has robust legal advice that this agreement is confidential,” he said.

“On this occasion we have the agreement of our former employee to waive the confidentiality in respect of the amount and only the amount, not on any other aspect of the content. I want to thank him for that and confirm that the payment cost under the agreement with the employee is €388,983, noting that the employee would not receive all of that amount net.”

Gloser added that such agreements around exit packages are “necessary” and “must be at our disposal” into the future.