Updated 11.45am
THE MINISTER FOR Health has said that although the Rehab Group is not subject to public pay policy, the government believes charities and organisations that are in receipt of over €250,000 annually of taxpayers’ money should be “in line”.
Speaking in the Dáil this morning, James Reilly told the chamber that the organisation is not a section 38 agency (which are required to follow public pay rules) but a section 39 one.
He was answering a question posed by Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin who asked whether the Minister was aware that the agency had not yet revealed the salary of its CEO Angela Kerins.
In a statement last month, the board said it would meet on 17 February to decide whether or not to disclose the sum. It is understood her salary was last put at over €230,000.
PAC hearings
Reilly said the HSE is “fully in control” of the situation with regard to unauthorised payments within section 38 agencies. He said the government will not stop its ‘careful and fastidious’ process until there is “utter transparency” about how public monies are spent.
The Minister was speaking prior to the Public Accounts Committee reaching agreement this morning to set a date for the organisation to come before TDs on the spending watchdog, with committee chair John McGuinness saying this will happen “within the next two weeks”.
He said that the meeting would cover “every aspect” of public funding that the charity receives.
The PAC also heard that accounting officers from the Departments of Health and Justice, as well as the HSE and the education and training organisation Solas (formerly FÁS) will appear as all of them give funding to Rehab.
- additional reporting Hugh O’Connell
First published 10.10am
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