Planned salary of €100k for HSE head reduced
The Department of Health wanted to pay the new chairperson of the HSE €100,000 a year for a job that would involve working for just two days each week.
After negotiations with the Department of Public Expenditure, the fee was instead agreed at €80,000 a year, internal records have revealed.
The Department of Health wanted the pay package to be linked with its plans for a new starting salary for the new chief executive. Interviews for that role are scheduled for late this month.
The salary for the chief executive will be in the range of €250,000 to €300,000, with “provision for a higher rate in exceptional circumstances”.
Health officials asked that this information be “kept confidential” in communications with the Department of Public Expenditure.
In negotiations over a salary for the chairman — who was since been confirmed as Ciarán Devane — officials struggled to find a similar role for pay comparison.
In emails, they said the chair of Bórd na Móna was paid €21,600 a year for between four and eight days per month, while the chair of CIE gets €31,500 annually for 10 half-day meetings each month and “significant further time commitment”.
An official explained the new HSE chair was seen as a key appointment.
One email from the Department of Health said the position would be “on the basis of a more substantial role and time commitment than a standard chair and requiring a significantly higher level of remuneration than the standard rates”.
In a preliminary business case sent on June 7, the department said it would be looking for an €80,000 salary for the role with a five-year term.
In it, they provided details of chairperson fees from the private sector including AIB, Smurfit Kappa, Bank of Ireland, and CRH.
Twenty minutes later, however, the Department came back to say it now believed a fee of €100,000 should apply to the two-day-a-week position.
An email from the Department of Health said: “Our Sec Gen [Jim Breslin] has just contacted me from a meeting to say that following information received from Fiona Tierney [then chief of the Public Appointments Service] that the fee for the Chair position should be pitched at €100k.
“The going rate for a non-exec director in the private sector for six meetings per year is €60k. For a chairman, that is likely to be €100k+.”
The department said a recent board position advertised by AIB came with a €65,000 salary, while the chairman of Nama, Frank Daly, was paid a fee of €150,000.
“On the basis of this additional information we wish you to consider agreeing to the higher rate of €100k rather than the €80k mentioned in the business case below,” it continued.
The Department of Public Expenditure was unwilling to go higher, however, saying it was only prepared to sanction the €80,000 salary.
In a statement, the Department of Health said it had considered a fee of €100,000 for the role and that it had agreed upon that rate.
It said: “Following consideration of the work involved for the Chairperson and that at least two days per week would be required to undertake the role, it was agreed that €80,000 was appropriate for the position.”
They said the chairperson would have a key role in helping manage an organisation with 110,000 staff and a budget of almost €16bn next year.
