Daniel McConnell: 'Dismay' at inflated salary for new Health official
Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath was in the hot seat, having to defend the extraordinary salary. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
€5,615 a week for a new secretary-general compared to €100 a week for student nurses.
That was the stark contrast made at the Oireachtas Finance Committee on Tuesday, which asked how it was justifiable to pay the new top official in the Department of Health a salary of €292,000.
Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath was in the hot seat, having to defend the extraordinary salary.
He said it was justifiable in the context of the challenges faced by the health system and that recent attempts to fill top roles such as the head of the HSE and the post of Garda Commissioner had failed before exceptional salaries were put in place.
Mr McGrath said that was “an uncomfortable reality” but while he insisted there was an open international process to find the new secretary-general, there is not a single person who believes it will be anyone other than Robert Watt, who was Mr McGrath’s top official until he was transferred over to Health last month on an interim basis.
Mr Watt is currently paid €211,000 a year, or €4,057 a week, as a top-tier secretary-general but stands to benefit from an €81,000 salary increase.
As revealed on Tuesday by the , Mr Watt’s fingerprints are all over the formation of the package relating to the post, save for the specific salary level.
While Mr McGrath insisted Mr Watt had “no input” to the decision to pay €292,000, documents released to committee members relating to the decision show Mr Watt had extensive input into the drafting of the information booklet relating to the post.
On one, dated December 15, 2020, Mr Watt said: “Minister, I understand that you wish to advertise the sec gen, Department of Health role as a Top Level Appointments Committee (TLAC) competition. Please see booklet attached, and in particular the section on terms and conditions, Robert.”
Another note shows Mr Watt’s note informing unspecified persons about the forthcoming position and asking whether they wished to apply for it.
Committee member after committee member expressed their “dismay” and “concerns” as to the signal such a salary sends out to other civil servants.
Committee chairman John McGuinness said the whole system of appointing top officials needed to be reformed. “There is a cosiness there that I do not like. I do not like the manner in which this was dealt with and the public are concerned,” he said.
Jim O’Callaghan, the Fianna Fáil TD said: “It is important that we don’t allow salaries at the top level to spiral out of control and that minister is up to you.”
Labour’s Marie Sherlock said there was a great deal of dismay among the public about the salary level proposed for this role.
“It is not helpful to put it mildly that this Government has brought this unnecessary attention upon yourself and I ask you to reconsider that decision in relation to the remuneration,” she said.
Mr McGrath accepted there was a danger this pay could lead to other claims from top officials but said he has seen no evidence of that yet.
Mick Barry, the Cork North Central TD said of Mr McGrath’s point of the complexity of the job that the head of the World Health Organisation is paid €199,000 and that is a complex job.
Given Mr Watt’s current role, Sinn Féin's Doherty asked the obvious question that given the secretary-general is there on an acting basis on the salary of €211,000. why not get him to do it permanently on that salary.
That is the big question which remains without a good enough answer.
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