Who gets paid to work for a non-existent hospital?

Some staff have been employed by the new National Paediatric Hospital since 2008 – but the proposed building doesn’t even have planning permission yet.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of euro in wages have been paid to staff working for a new children’s hospital – even though it hasn’t been built yet.

The Irish Daily Mail has reported that taxpayers are already funding the salaries of a chief executive, a part-time medical director, a finance director and a business support team, despite the planning permission not have yet been granted – or sought – for the building.

The proposed site of the hospital is at Dublin’s Mater Hospital, and it is due to open for development in 2014.

Although salaries are already being paid, the board has refused to reveal size of the salaries it is awarding.

So who are the individuals being paid to work at a hospital that won’t actually open until at least 2014?

Eilish Hardiman

Eilish Hardiman was appointed chief executive of the National Paediatric Hospital Board in September 2008.

She is deputy chief executive of St James’s Hospital in Dublin, and previous to that she was Director of Nursing in St James’s.

Jim Farragher

Jim Farragher was appointed finance director of the National Paediatric Hospital.

Dr Emma Curtis

Curtis was appointed to the role of medical director for the National Paediatric Hospital Board in 2008. Like Hardiman, she is on a 5 year contract.

She is also consultant paediatrician at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght and divides her time between the two appointments.

The plans to build the National Paediatric Hospital Board were first announced in 2005, and three years later, the board of management was appointed. It operates from a building on Parnell Square and includes:

Michael Flaherty (a partner in KPMG)
Kathryn Raleigh, Director of ICT Ireland, IBEC
Harry Crosbie, businessman
Vera Wegner, appointed to represent the public interest
Linda Dillon, appointed to represent the interests of the parents of sick children
Norah Casey, CEO of Harmonia Ltd, which publishes Irish Tatler
John O’Brien, National Director of the National Hospitals Office, HSE
Brian Gilroy, National Director of Estates
Dr Alan Finan – Facility of Paediatrics (RCSI)
Philip Lynch – Chair
Dr Owen Hensey – Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street
Dr Emma Curtis