Officials met Reilly over secretary’s role
But the minister was “not necessarily accepting of the distinction” between departmental and political work at the time, according to internal department records.
These show the then secretary general, Michael Scanlan, and another official met Dr Reilly in June 2011 to discuss the operation of his private office. By then, Dr Reilly had been health minister for approximately three months.
Minutes of the meeting, obtained by the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act, state that Mr Scanlan explained to Dr Reilly it was inappropriate to involve his private secretary in political work.
Each minister has a private secretary, a civil servant who receives an extra allowance of €20,685 a year for the duration because of the significant extra workload.
“The secretary general explained that the role of the private secretary was to support the minister in relation to departmental work, but it was inappropriate for the private secretary to involve himself in work of a political nature such as briefing government backbenchers or sorting out local issues on behalf of their constituents,” the minutes state.
“In previous administrations, a political adviser appointed by the minister was assigned responsibility for liaising with Government backbenchers and public representatives generally, and working directly with designated contacts in the HSE to obtain information and resolve issues.
“There was some discussion on the possibility of backbenchers being briefed by the minister’s advisers on issues of interest on a regular basis… The minister agreed to reflect on this suggestion, although he was not necessarily accepting of the distinction between departmental work and political work.”
Asked about the issue yesterday, a spokesman for Dr Reilly said his office received an “enormous quantity of requests for information”. The June 2011 meeting had been “the first opportunity” for Dr Reilly “to refine the method” by which such enquiries would be dealt with in a sustainable manner.
“The method by which such enquiries are now dealt with involves the routing of any formal representations to the private office. Such representations are then provided to the relevant section of the department for any appropriate consideration. This practice is consistent government-wide. Enquiries for day-to-day information from political parties are a matter for the advisers of Dr Reilly to deal with.”
A new private secretary was appointed to Dr Reilly later in 2011. Mr Scanlan retired from the department this year and is now chairman of Tallaght Hospital.
