HSE and Dept of Health have more questions to answer in top-ups controversy – McGuinness

Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness says both the HSE and the Department of Health have more questions to answer in relation to the latest controversy over salary top-ups.

Deputy McGuinness was commenting after it emerged this week that St Vincent’s Hospital Group has provided salary top-ups to some of its executives.

“The HSE is now promising to ask questions of charities, including St Vincent’s, that it was in a position to ask 4 or 5 years ago. I would prefer if it explained why its senior managers were so lax in applying the rules and demanding transparency and accountability.

“The fact is that the HSE, the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have more questions to answer than the institutions under their control. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that a system of nudges and winks, which is growing bigger by the day, has now been uncovered, and responsibility for it is being passed around like a hot potato.

“For generations now, this lack of governance and unwillingness to take responsibility by those in power has corroded politics and the public service, diminishing both in the eyes of the public. That culture has done great damage to this country and no significant attempt has been made to deal with it.

“Indeed, the reverse is true – considerable efforts have been and are still being made to ensure that those who sit at the top table are protected from the need to change. In comparison; the pain, suffering and disappointment that our people are experiencing bites deeper and austerity fills the black hole in our finances created by waste and mismanagement.”