St James’s Hospital chief receives €30,000 a year for Trinity role

The chief executive of St James's Hospital in Dublin receives a €30,000 annual salary from Trinity College Dublin for his role as an adjunct assistant professor at the university, where he works the equivalent of one day a week, over and above his hospital salary.

Figures contained in a Department of Health report dated from May this year, which predate cuts introduced under the Haddington Road agreement, indicated that Brian Fitzgerald was in receipt of a total remuneration package of €162,366 for his role as chief executive of St James's.

This comprised a HSE-funded salary of €145,949, an on-call allowance of €7,480 and another unspecified allowance of €8,937.

However, yesterday the hospital said Mr Fitzgerald was in receipt of a salary of €136,282 as well as a travel allowance of €8,937 approved by the Department of Health, both of which are publicly funded.

Since February 2012 Mr Fitzgerald has also received payments for his role as an adjunct assistant professor in implementation science at Trinity College Dublin, for which he is paid a flat rate of €30,000 per annum. The payment was not contained in the audit figures.

In a statement the hospital said Mr Fitzgerald had had a "contractual relationship with Trinity College for the last decade". It said there had been an academic association between the chief executive of St James's and Trinity for about 20 years, providing education and research support in relevant areas.

Supportive
It added that the hospital board was "fully supportive of this important relationship" and had agreed and endorsed Mr Fitzgerald's appointment as adjunct professor.

Referring to the remuneration of its senior executives, the statement added that the hospital was “wholly in compliance with the Department of Health consolidated salary scales” and did not use sources other than those approved by the department to fund salaries or allowances.

It said that, in a number of cases, allowances which had since been abolished appeared in audits conducted prior to their abolition.

A spokesman for Trinity College said Mr Fitzgerald had been appointed to the role of adjunct professor in implementation science “as one of the leading exponents of this discipline in practice in Ireland”.

The spokesman said that, in his role as adjunct professor, Mr Fitzgerald had planned the course, gave formal lectures, supervised research theses and had other duties.