St Vincent's pays three executives extra for private jobs

THREE SENIOR executives in public hospitals operated by the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group are being paid for private work on top of their public commitments.

The group, which runs St Vincent’s University Hospital and the adjacent St Vincent’s Private Hospital at Elm Park in south Dublin, and St Michael’s Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, confirmed yesterday that three senior managers had “private contractual arrangements” with them for additional work.

However, the hospital group declined to disclose the amounts involved in the additional payments and said the money did not come from public funds.

It confirmed the existence of these arrangements for senior executives only after the Department of Health gave The Irish Times details of the amount the Government had agreed to pay a senior manager of St Vincent’s University Hospital who has been seconded to run HSE hospitals in Galway.

Figures released by the department indicate that the Government agreed to pay the senior manager up to €50,000 more than the official rate for his post at St Vincent’s University Hospital to move to Galway.

The Department of Health said that it had sought, and received, approval from the Department of Public Expenditure to pay a salary of up to €195,000 to Bill Maher, the acting chief executive of St Vincent’s University Hospital, to take over the running of the Galway group of public hospitals.

The Department of Health said it had sought this level of remuneration based on information received from St Vincent’s Hospital.

It said that, “as would be expected, his secondment from St Vincent’s University Hospital had to be on a basis of no reduction in earnings”.

However, last year the Minister for Health, James Reilly, told the Dáil, in an answer to a parliamentary question, that the annual salary of the chief executive of St Vincent’s University Hospital was €145,959.

The Department of Health statement suggests that the additional money was sanctioned to compensate Mr Maher for the loss of private earnings on top of his public salary in Dublin as a result of his move to the West.

St Vincent’s Healthcare Group confirmed at the weekend, for the first time and on foot of the new details emerging about Mr Maher’s salary, that three of its senior managers were paid additional sums to work for other parts of the group on top of their public commitments.

In a statement it said: “Three senior managers in St Vincent’s Healthcare Group have private contractual arrangements with the group for additional work carried out over and above their public sector obligations.

“Compensation for this additional work does not involve any public funds.”

A spokesman for St Vincent’s Healthcare Group said details of these arrangements were “private”.

The appointment of Mr Maher to head the HSE-owned hospitals in Galway was announced by Dr Reilly late last year.

The Department of Health said Mr Maher’s experience, expertise and effectiveness “recommended him to the task”.

It said that, in the wake of receiving approval from the Department of Public Expenditure to pay a salary of up to €195,000, “it became clear that the actual level required is €185,000”.

It is understood that Mr Maher also receives about €10,000 in expenses.

The €195,000 salary that was originally sanctioned by the Department of Public Expenditure is just below the official public service pay cap of €200,000 that was put in place by the Government last year.