The Dáil's spending watchdog is to seek the disclosure of the pay of senior Government officials on an annual basis in the wake of the controversy over Department of Health secretary general Robert Watt's €294,920 salary.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also agreed to Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy's suggestion that it should write to the Department of Health to ask if it will say when Mr Watt stopped waiving the €81,000 pay increase that came with his job.
The PAC, along with the Committee on Finance, examined the issue of senior public service executives’ pay and produced a report criticising the process involved in determining the pay for the Department of Health job.
Mr Watt - the former secretary general at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (Dper) - was initially appointed as interim secretary general at Health in January 2021 pending an open competition for the permanent role.
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The pay rise came when he was appointed on a permanent basis last April but Mr Watt said at the time that he would waive the increase “until the economy begins to recover and unemployment falls”.
Mr Watt refused to say if he was still waiving the €81,000 increase when he was at the PAC last month.
His Department confirmed on Wednesday that he is in receipt of the full salary but would not say when he stopped waiving the increase.
The PAC has agreed to write to Dper to ask for the publication of the remuneration of the secretaries general of Government Departments each year in their accounts - as is done by other State bodies for their chief executives.
Chairman Brian Stanley said this would mean a "wild goose chase" on such issues can be avoided in future.
