IMO boss admits laxity on €25m deal

The president of the Irish Medical Organisation has admitted he should have done more to find out about the contract terms of the union’s former chief executive which left him with a pension entitlement of up to €25m.

Addressing the union’s AGM yesterday in Killarney, Co Kerry, Dr Paul McKeown said the deal, signed off by former IMO president Prof Joe Barry, would have bankrupted the group.

He said anybody he had spoken to in the IMO did not know the amount of money involved and Prof Barry signed the contract without being aware of the ramifications. Prof Barry was an member of the IMO remuneration committee when the deal was signed in 2003.

Dr McKeown said the contract was negotiated by Dr Cormac Macnamara, then IMO president, but he died soon after and the contract was then signed by Prof Barry.

Why his role is only emerging now is unclear. Prof Barry, who is attending the AGM, said he would be talking to the review team and declined to comment.

Dr McKeown admitted there was “insufficient oversight” of the contract and that he himself did not ask enough questions.

An external company is being commissioned by the 5,000-member IMO to carry out a full review of Mr McNeice’s 20-year tenure as chief executive.

Dr McKeown rejected claims by a spokesman for Mr McNeice that details of his €500,000 salary and contract were widely known in the organisation.

Dr McKeown said he was shocked and staggered when he found out. “I didn’t know he was building up a liability for the organisation that would threaten its very future and I don’t believe for a second that my colleagues did either,” he said.

A spokesman for Mr McNeice said last night he wished to reiterate details of his contract were known in the IMO. He also said he would be happy to co-operate with the review.

The IMO negotiated Mr McNeice’s pension package down to €9.7m and IMO interim executive director Niall Saul said the body faced liquidation if the full amount had to be paid.

The IMO would not say if Health Minister James Reilly, a former IMO president, was involved with Mr McNeice’s contract.

Separately, the IMO passed an emergency motion urging all members to vote no to Croke Park II.