Minister: Hold top public servants to account

It is “fraudulent” to blame the Government for the failings in health and housing, a Fine Gael minister has claimed.

Instead of criticising politicians, senior public servants need to be publicly held to account, Jim Daly has said.

It comes as the country’s emergency departments are under severe pressure.

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people, including almost 4,000 children spent Christmas in emergency homeless accommodation.

Mr Daly said managers, who are paid by the taxpayer, should be named and grilled by the media when mistakes are made adding that it is not the responsibility of any minister to manage public services.

Mr Daly said it is “fraudulent” to constantly blame government ministers as their role is to draw up policy and they are not responsible for the day to day running and management of services.

“It is important that managers of services not just in health, but in housing and local authorities, in education and in any public sector, that managers come out as well and speak to challenges that exists within the system,” he said.

“It is easy to continuously blame Simon Harris or to blame Eoghan Murphy and I think that’s a really easy way of doing things.”

The minister of state in the Department of Health said it would be “a lot more appropriate” for those in the public sector to address the media when a crisis or significant issue arises and not Government ministers.

“The Taoiseach doesn’t manage the health system, I am saying why don’t you ask the manager of the health system who’s responsible for whatever given hospital to come on and do an interview, they are public servants, they are paid out of the public funds.

“One of those things that I’ve always found a bit fraudulent is the relationship between media and politicians for entertainment, beating up politicians all day every day and politicians are equally to blame. Politicians need to come forward and say, ‘You know what? Yeah, I don’t manage the health system, I’m not in charge of it’.

“I mean, if I walk into a hospital tomorrow and instruct a nurse what to do, I’ll be told quickly: ‘I am a member of a union and my union told me I don’t have to take instructions from you,’ and they are right.”

Mr Daly, who is responsible for mental health and older people, added: “I have no authority to go into any mental health unit tomorrow and instruct a staff member what to do because I am not management.

“Yes I’m there to drive policy to drive change, to make sure we get adequate funding and the best funding and all of that and what I have ended up doing is, of course, looking at new ways of doing things and working with the HSE but ultimately the HSE manage.

“So we need to be real with the people and move on from the game-play that we engage in all day, every day.”

He said Health Minister Simon Harris is not responsible for the dirty floor in the hospital down the road, it’s the responsibility of the manager.

Mr Daly said there are a lot of senior managers within the HSE who would be “quite happy” to speak out publically on issues.

However, Mr Daly, who will be standing down from politics ahead of the next general election, went on to strongly defend the Government’s record on mental health, claiming it had increased the budget by €300m in recent years.