Watt behaved with 'an utter disregard' for transparency on salary issue, draft report finds

Robert Watt was appointed secretary general of the Department of Health in April of this year, at a salary €81,000 in excess of that of other secretary generals to a total of €292,000 per annum

Secretary General at the Department of Health Robert Watt during a joint committee on Health meeting regarding the implementation of Slaintecare. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The secretary general of the Department of Health Robert Watt has been described as behaving with “an utter disregard” for transparency and accountability in the context of his controversial salary.

A draft report on the appointment of Mr Watt in April of this year, at a salary €81,000 in excess of that of other secretary generals to a total of €292,000 per annum, describes his decision not to attend a meeting of the Finance Committee on the matter as further displaying “disregard for the work of the committee”.

It states that Mr Watt further showed a lack of regard for the committee by, when asked for information on when he planned to draw down his higher salary and pension entitlements, sending the committee a copy of the press release on the issue.

The report, from the joint committee of Finance and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), further criticises the Taoiseach Micheál Martin for being “less than co-operative or forthcoming” on the issue of Mr Watt’s new salary when attending a meeting of the Select Committee on Estimates.

Mr Watt’s salary is especially controversial as, in his previous role as secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, he was central to the design of the new pay package.

The argument made for the heightened salary at the time was that the Department of Health was a body requiring the highest calibre of appointment given the challenges the health service faces.

It’s understood that Mr Watt has yet to draw down the higher salary to which he is now entitled.

In its conclusions, the report states that “the Committee is unclear as to why the standard procedure of transferring an existing secretary general on the same terms and conditions did not apply”, describing the actual process as “a very poor way to conduct business”.

'Insufficient record-keeping'

It states that it is “beyond dispute” that the entire process had been “dealt with informally from the start” and that there was “insufficient record-keeping regarding such a significant issue”.

It recommends that purely verbal briefings regarding pay and conditions in relation to such future appointments “should not be permitted”, and that a review body be established “to develop processes and procedures governing appointments to senior posts” in the civil service.

It also recommends that ministerial power to set individual salaries should be reviewed to ensure “adherence to openness, transparency and sufficient oversight”, and that potential candidates for roles should not be members of the public service’s Top Level Appointments Committee (TLAC).

In the wake of Mr Watt’s appointment, a joint committee of Finance and the PAC issued a questionnaire to people with knowledge of the appointment process for the secretary general role.

Questions included a request for information regarding the “apparent lack of an appropriate process” in coming to the appointment and a query as to how the salary figure of €292,000 was arrived at “given the lack of obvious benchmarking in Ireland or abroad for similar public sector roles”.

The committee further asked for information regarding the role of TLAC in the appointment, and whether or not “fair and independent processes could be said to apply when the secretary to TLAC was also an official answering to the secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform [Mr Watt]” at the time.

Recipients of the questionnaire included the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and the Minister for Health.

The only person not to respond to the questionnaire was Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan.

“None of the respondents completed the questionnaire as set out or provided the precise information sought by the Committee in the form requested,” the draft report states.