Posted by Alan Kelly defends publication of internal Department of Health tapes
40 mins ago
22nd February 2022
Labour Party leader Alan Kelly has defended the publication of internal Department of Health tapes.
Mr Kelly said: ‘You can see for the public good the value of getting information out there.’
He was commenting on an extraordinary intervention by the Department of Health on Sunday on the issue.
It said of the recordings: ‘No official of the Department of Health has given consent to be recorded while carrying out their duties as part of the deliberative process.
‘Publishing details of meetings between Government officials in the ordinary course of their work, which were recorded without the consent or knowledge of participants, is a direct violation of individual privacy.
‘The department strongly believes quoting the casual comments of individuals will only serve to limit constructive debate and dialogue across the civil service and this is damaging to the public interest.’ The extraordinary missive also noted: ‘No recordings on which allegations are based have been made available to the department and therefore it is unclear what discussions they refer to or if they have been doctored. ‘This makes it difficult to validate or to respond constructively.’
The details were published on Sunday by the Business Post, which said: ‘None of the individuals on the tapes have made any suggestion that the recordings are doctored or that they did not make the claims reported.’
The Department of Health statement also claimed that when it comes to the HSE: their ‘working relationship, characterised by mutual respect, is professional and constructive’.
However, previous recordings claim the Health Department believes the HSE is guilty of ‘sloppiness’ and ‘fundamental errors’, while the standard of reporting by the HSE was described as being characterised by sloppiness, garbage, and ‘sh**e’.
Officials from the Health Department are also recorded saying that when it comes to the capacity for reform in the HSE, ‘you might be assuming a degree of pride in work and professionalism that isn’t always evident’, and that ‘their attention span was quite short’.
The newest allegations say those with oversight of the department’s finances were told to ‘look the other way’ as budget rules were not followed, that recruitment targets are ‘bats**t’ and that the HSE ‘goes rogue’ and does not ‘fear or respect’ the Department of Health.
Mr Kelly said on RTÉ’s This Week on Sunday that the leaked recording has unveiled a ‘dysfunctional relationship’ between Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath.
He added: ‘It shows a lack of trust between departments, and a Health Minister who isn’t in control and who doesn’t seem to know what’s going on.
‘I have had concerns for some time over Stephen Donnelly’s management of the department.’
Robert Watt, the beleaguered secretary general of the Department of Health, has also said in a letter to the Oireachtas Committee on Health: ‘These recordings and transcripts were made and released without their knowledge and this has led to partial statements that were taken out of context and also contained some factual inaccuracies.’
One senior source noted: ‘Trouble makes unlikely allies. The system is gathering in to defend itself.’
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