Watt critical of 'factual inaccuracies' in whistleblower account of budget discussions

Whistleblower Shane Corr had alleged, using transcripts and recordings of internal departmental meetings, a number of issues between the department and the HSE, including the suggestion that a large-scale adjustment would be necessary for the executive’s 2020 accounts and that the HSE’s recruitment targets are only half of what they had been budgeted for.

Mr Watt said that the transcripts, which first emerged over the course of two weekends in the Business Post and detail a number of recordings of internal departmental meetings, were made and released without the knowledge of the officials in question, and that “this has led to partial statements that were taken out of context and also contained some factual inaccuracies”.

Separately, the department has responded strongly to the second series of reports in the Business Post stating that recording officials without their consent or knowledge “is a direct violation of individual privacy”.

“The department strongly believes that quoting the casual comments of individuals will only serve to limit constructive debate and dialogue across the civil service and this is damaging to the public interest,” a spokesperson said.

They added that since none of the recordings “have been made available to the department” it is “difficult to validate or respond constructively”.

In his letter to the PAC, regarding the suggestion that a prior year adjustment totalling “hundreds of millions” — first made by an assistant principal officer on January 27 — would be necessary for the HSE’s accounts, Mr Watt said that “what is being considered would be within the range of €10m to €100m and not the higher number reported in the article”.

This would appear to tally with another aspect of the January 27 meeting which saw an assistant secretary-general at the department comment that they had “estimated to Robert [Watt] between 10 and 100, not hundreds”.

Mr Watt’s new estimate would seem a deal more conservative than that suggested by his HSE counterpart Paul Reid at last Wednesday’s meeting of the Oireachtas health committee, which both men attended and which predated Mr Watt’s letter.

At first Mr Reid said that the adjustment, should there be one, will “probably be less than €100m”. 

Asked by Sinn Fein’s David Cullinane if the amount would be more than €90m, Mr Reid said “yes, yeah, yeah”.

He then said: “My judgment right now is that it’ll be less than 100, probably greater than 50, but I can’t be very specific.”

Mr Cullinane told the Irish Examiner that the figure is “obviously close to €100m”, and said that the adjustment is indicative of the HSE’s financial systems “not being fit for purpose”.

Separately, in his letter, Mr Watt said it was “inaccurate” to say that the HSE had only wanted — per the January 27 transcript — funding of €10m for mental health in 2022.

“The actual sum initially sought by the HSE was €35m,” he said. “Ultimately the final figure agreed was €37m — a differential of €2m in one-off funding.”

He also dismissed the idea that the slashing of the HSE’s recruitment targets by half to 5,500 for 2022 had come as a surprise to the department.