Resignation is welcome, but not enough for St Vincent’s – Harris

Fine Gael European Election Candidate for Ireland South and member of the Public Accounts Committee, Simon Harris TD, has today (Thursday) said that while the resignation of Nicolas Jermyn from St Vincent’s Public Hospital is welcome, there are still a number of outstanding issues for the hospital to address.

“This is clearly an attempt by St Vincent’s to address concerns about its breach of public pay policy, which is welcome. However, a number of outstanding issues must be addressed.

“Nicolas Jermyn has resigned from the public hospital and his salary will now, according to St Vincent’s, be paid purely from private sources.

“The move to decouple the private and public elements of the hospital is welcome, as it should make it much easier to ascertain whether those being paid from taxpayer funds are adhering to public pay policy.

“Yet Mr Jermyn is maintaining his position as Chief Executive of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group. This presents its own issues; how can one board govern both the public and private hospitals effectively? Can we expect it to effectively switch between private commercial interests and those of the taxpayer?

“I believe a decoupling of the public and private elements of St Vincent’s board is also necessary if the hospital is to ensure it complies with public pay policy. The hospital also has yet to address its puzzling approach to consultants’ contracts.

“The Public Accounts Committee several weeks ago agreed to my suggestion that representatives from St Vincent’s should appear before the Committee to account for these issues. I hope this can happen without delay.”

ENDS