Answers sought over pay of top civil servant
On Permanent Advertised With An Of Appointment Basis Being Role The Interim To Es Currently Watt's Health Department Robert The
Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath will face the Oireachtas Finance Committee tomorrow, with members demanding answers on how the former secretary general of his department was appointed to the top role in the Department of Health.
Robert Watt's appointment to the Department of Health comes on an interim basis with the permanent role currently being advertised.
However, politicians from across the spectrum are seeking answers on the €292,000 salary of the new appointee to the role - €81,000 more than other top-tier secretaries-general are paid.
Politicians have also questioned whether or not Mr Watt was involved in setting the salary for the job he now holds.
Committee chairman, Fianna Fáil's John McGuinness, said that answers were needed on a number of issues.
"We will be asking the minister whose idea this was and rationale behind the figure. There is also the issue of the impact of the broader civil service and higher-level positions being taken. Why would only that position attract that salary?
"It's not about the individual. We want to know what the process was for appointing the interim secretary general - was anyone else interested? Appointing it on an interim basis gives a massive advantage to the holder.
Sinn Féin's Public Expenditure spokesperson Mairead Farrell said that the committee had not received the correspondence it had sought from Mr McGrath or his department with less than 24 hours to go to his appearance and that this was "not good enough". She added that Mr Watt's salary increase was galling given the timing.
"The minister will need to account for himself, account for his decisions and answer who in the Department decided on this move?
"This came out when it was revealed that the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, which is given to people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, was getting taxed and as the Government argues that we can't pay student nurses.
According to a scoping note prepared for the Public Accounts Committee - which is to examine the overall system and remunaration for top civil servants - last week, pay packages for senior executives "appear to have provided barriers to recruiting persons of suitable calibre and experience for multiple roles" but says that while the 45% increase in salary for the new secretary-general of the Department of Health may have been an attempt to address this, "the apparent ad-hoc nature of this approach might not represent best practice".
"The lack of identifiable benchmarks or reference points for the determination of remuneration for such roles lacks transparency and may give rise to significant expenditure without a clear and accountable process."