Shortall accuses minister of keeping information from the Cabinet

Health Minister James Reilly has been accused of concealing information from his cabinet colleagues when he sought their approval last July for laws to change the structure of the HSE.

Former junior health minister Roisín Shortall said Mr Reilly had set a “dangerous precedent” by getting approval for legislation without providing all information material to it.

She was speaking in a Dáil debate on a bill published by Mr Reilly on Jul 18 giving him sweeping power to recruit the first director general of the HSE without regard for normal recruitment procedures.

“The minister, in seeking the approval of his Cabinet colleagues on July 17, 2012, sought and received approval for this power while withholding from them the fact that the incumbent chief executive of the HSE, Cathal Magee, had already tendered his resignation,” she said.

Tony O’Brien, who led a special unit charged with reducing hospital trolley numbers and waiting lists over the previous year, was appointed director designate of the HSE by Mr Reilly on Jul 27.

“Allowing a minister to appoint his own man to one of the most senior public offices in the country is wrong to begin with,” Ms Shortall said yesterday.

“Allowing the minister to provide for this in law when he failed to reveal news that was material to the content of the bill he was presenting to his cabinet colleagues is highly questionable.

“It should never have been allowed to happen and sets a very dangerous precedent.”

Ms Shortall said the new governance structure “raises significant concerns” because the number of directors “depends on the whim of the minister”.

“In respect of the corporate governance structure of our premier public body, we do not know how many directors will be appointed. The legislation provides for two, three, four, five, or six, in addition to the director general. All of those people are appointed by the minister.”

She also accused the minister of already making senior appointments without open competition.

“That applies to very senior people who were brought in under quite unorthodox employment arrangements to take up very highly paid posts and indeed other posts were created. There is a serious corporate governance problem in the HSE as it is. The problem has arisen owing to the actions of [Dr Reilly] at an early stage in his ministerial career.”