Department of Health has ‘no role’ in Console pay dispute

The Department of Health has washed its hands of the failure to pay three months’ wages to workers who stayed at suicide-prevention charity Console after it was hit by a financial scandal, saying it has “no role” in the dispute.

Department secretary general Jim Breslin has underlined the formal position in a letter to the Dáil’s public accounts committee despite ongoing calls for the innocent frontline workers to be given the money they are owed.

Last summer, Console was thrown into turmoil after a HSE internal audit uncovered serious financial irregularities linked directly to then chief executive Paul Kelly.