Big lumps of money to swan out the door is what drives the plebs crazy
ON HUGE EXIT PAYMENTS TO THE TOP BRASS
THE north quays in Waterford City are in the middle of a €170million revamp and this week, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe popped down for a quick nosey, presumably to also check that our money is being well spent.
It sounds like a great project; among other things, they’re moving the train station across the River Suir and closer to the city centre, which should help alleviate the chronic traffic issues they have down there and transform this southeast hub into a much more ‘liveable’ space.
Given the ambition of the plans, €170million doesn’t sound like all that much of a budget. Not for today’s Government.
Not when we’re throwing cash at all of our ‘top people’ who, for reasons of which we’re still unsure, are finding themselves in negotiations for ‘exit packages’ from ‘top jobs’ in various semi-State and fully State bodies.
Of course, with all these bigleague positions, there are complexities and legalities involved that those of us who hold far less vital roles can have no hope of ever really understanding. That’s simply the way of it.
To attract really big hitters to do really big jobs, contracts must include all manner of perks and caveats. If things don’t work out, for whatever reason – and nobody is suggesting that any of the individuals involved simply weren’t up to their elevated post, or made any ill-conceived judgements that would get most regular folk fired on the spot – there will be an astonishingly handsome ‘farewell’ cheque to help grease their way out the door.
Media Minister Catherine Martin must have appreciated the brief shift of attention from her effective on-air firing of RTÉ board chairperson Siún Ní Raghallaigh, to the revelation on Thursday that former HSE deputy director general Dean Sullivan is set to get a redundancy package of almost €400,000. He started working there six years ago and was on an annual salary of €200,000.
Each week, his gross earnings were €3,846, which is a monthly pay packet of €15,384.
Under our statutory redundancy entitlement, set out by the Redundancy Payments Act 1967, eligible employees are ‘entitled to two weeks’ normal weekly remuneration for every year of service, plus a bonus week’. It adds: ‘The redundancy lump sum calculation is based on the worker’s length of reckonable service and weekly remuneration, which is subject to a ceiling of €600 per week.’
Let’s forget the ceiling bit and just go with Mr Sullivan getting two weeks for each of his six years served and throw in the further six bonus weeks. That comes to a grand total of €46,152.
No, I don’t understand it either. But then all the RTÉ exit packages revealed so far have made absolutely zero sense. Not unless you follow the deeply dark and cynical theory that says being top brass means having massive balls and not giving a toss how your grossly inflated redundancy cheque looks to the average taxpayer, or if it’s morally correct to grasp such a vast sum of money from a State-funded organisation that claims to be financially on its knees as you swan out the door.
Budget
HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster attempted to shed some light on the situation, explaining that the agreement with Mr Sullivan came out of a confidential mediation process, and that it was approved at all appropriate levels, including the departments of Health and Public Expenditure and Reform.
He added: ‘The HSE is clear that such agreements are not only allowable but necessary and must be at our disposal into the future. I am clear that this agreement is appropriate and compliant in every respect.’
The HSE’s budget last year overran by a breathtaking €1billion and it’s expected to do the same this year. In an effort to stem the flow of cash, a recruitment embargo was introduced, despite many hospitals and health services being chronically understaffed. For instance, at Limerick University Hospital, a facility rarely out of the news thanks to consistent and dangerous overcrowding at its emergency department, there is currently an estimated 20% shortfall in nursing staff.
Anyway, as Mr Gloster hinted, it would seem there’s more to come thanks to the ongoing structural reform at the HSE, which means having to shed more top managers. Indeed, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly was careful to tell reporters this week that he couldn’t rule out more megabucks redundancy packages – so Mr Sullivan can rest assured that his moment in the sun is undoubtedly soon to be eclipsed.
Meanwhile, down in Waterford, Minister Donohoe was quizzed about his thoughts on the big fat redundancy cheque for an employee who’d worked for six years. He replied that there were two elements to the deal – the legal and the severance.
‘The severance element of it is completely in line with our policy regarding redundancy programmes and then the severance element was the outcome of a legal process,’ he patiently explained. ‘All of this is in line with how these matters are dealt with and the cost of it is being made publicly available.’
After being asked if he thought the amount was appropriate, the minister responded: ‘This is the outcome of a legal process and I think the important thing is to recognise that there was a legal component to all of this, that was the outcome of a mediation process that was chaired by a senior counsel, and then all of the severance elements of it are in line with the relevant HR policy for our public service.’ Right. You can patiently explain until you’re blue in the face that ‘legally’ everything is above board. But this is the stuff that drives the plebs crazy. It’s what drives regular RTÉ workers out to protest, it’s what hardens nursing staff against management and it’s what makes taxpayers believe they are being taken for complete mugs.
Whoever is doing the work on that Waterford city revamp should recalculate their costs – they’ll probably find that ‘legally’ they could squeeze another wodge out of the State coffers.