Kelly insists he told Martin about nursing home charges

Former secretary general of the Department of Health Micheal Kelly has insisted that he informed his then minister, Micheál Martin, of the nursing home charges issues on two occasions.

In his first public comment, since he left the post last month, Mr Kelly also claimed that the Tánaiste and current Minister for Health, Mary Harney, had cancelled detailed briefings with senior officials which could have alerted her to the problems at an earlier stage.

In the course of five hours of evidence to the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children yesterday, Mr Kelly was scathing of the official Travers Report into the nursing home controversy. He also suggested that there had been political reluctance over the years to tackle the charges issue.

He also contended that ministerial advisers had strayed beyond the roles set down for them in legislation.

Mr Kelly said that he was "quite clear" and in "no doubt" that he had alerted the then minister Mr Martin to the potential problems relating to the charges in December 2003 in the foyer of the Gresham Hotel and again the following February.

He said that after Ms Harney's appointment he had wanted her to receive detailed briefings at which he was sure the problem would have been aired.

"Had they proceeded, I am confident that the nursing home charges would have been raised by the planning and evaluation unit. However, all of these briefings were subsequently cancelled by the Tánaiste's private secretary, presumably on the Tánaiste's instructions."

He was strongly critical of the report carried out by former head of Forfás John Travers which he argued had not met "the standards required of good public administration or of natural justice". He contended that the report was more rigorous in its probing of the actions of officials than of politicians. "The report seems to employ much less rigour in analysing political action and inaction over the years. But it is clear to me, from reading the papers I have read, that there were strong political undercurrents relating to this issue since 1976.

"It is a fact that ministers are not in the habit of expressing their views or reasons for actions or inaction on paper. It is therefore no surprise that the documents reviewed by Mr Travers are largely silent on this score," he said.

He said that he believed that "political reluctance was an issue [in the charges not being dealt with] in 1976, 1979 and in 1987".

"The culture of the department over the years has lent too far in the direction of facilitating ease of manoeuvre at political level," he said.

Green Party chairman John Gormley, meanwhile, questioned evidence given by Minister of State Ivor Callely to the committee. Mr Gormley said Dáil records suggest Mr Callely could not have briefed the Taoiseach on charges for nursing home care when he said he did.