Committee to probe €51m HSE consultants bill

THE Public Accounts Committee is to question the HSE on the amount it spends on external public relations and consultants.

Since 2005, the HSE has spent more than e51 million on spin doctors, human resources and a wide variety of other management consultancies.

In the first six months of last year, the HSE paid a staggering e83,895 to chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm’s personal communications adviser Karl Anderson, while another personal advisor, Maureen Lynott, was paid e126,608.

Human resources consultant Maureen McGrath was paid e147,828 for the first six months of 2008. This is despite the fact that the HSE already has a National director of human resources, Seán McGrath.

Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Bernard Allen, has called on Prof Drumm to explain the spending in light of the e1.1 billion deficit the HSE is facing this year.

“I believe the long-suffering Irish people dependent on the health service are owed an explanation from Prof Drumm and senior management as to the level of spending on advisers and personal communications people,” he said.

However, speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Pat Kenny Show, HSE national director of finance Liam Woods said to describe all of the e51 million spend going on public relations was “misleading”.

“The HSE over the years has spent money on a whole range of services supporting its core business, supporting the business of providing service to people... so it must be hugely frustrating and misleading for the population to be hearing a message like that,” he said.

Mr Woods also defended the levels of payment to Prof Drumm’s senior advisers and said they were not unusual for an organisation of the size of the HSE.

“In the scale of the HSE, we do need to recognise the HSE is an organisation that is national and is running this year with a budget of over e15bn,” said Mr Woods.