SECRETARY GENERAL of the Department of Health Michael Scanlan is to receive lump sum and severance payments of more than €430,000 when he steps down in April.
He will also be eligible for a pension of €107,795 at the end of his seven-year term in office. Mr Scanlan will be 56 in the early summer.
The Cabinet was told yesterday by Minister for Health James Reilly that Mr Scanlan would be retiring on April 8th on the expiry of his term in office. He is also to step down from his position as chairman of the board of the Health Service Executive, to which he was appointed just before Christmas.
Mr Scanlan is retiring after next month’s deadline for staff in the public service to leave on pensions calculated on the basis of their final salary. From February 29th retiring public servants will receive a lower pension, based on career earnings.
He will therefore receive a lower lump sum and pension than other secretaries general of equivalent grade who retired under controversial terms for top-level civil servants.
The department said that on his retirement Mr Scanlan would have served for nearly 38½ years in the Civil Service.
“In accordance with the terms of his contract he will qualify for a pension and lump sum based on his actual service plus just over 1.5 added years (ie a total of 40 years reckonable service) and a special severance gratuity of one half of his annual salary.”
The department said that as Mr Scanlan was retiring after February 29th, his pension, lump sum and severance would be based on his salary as reduced under financial emergency legislation introduced by the previous government.
“Accordingly, he will be eligible for a pension of €107,795, a lump sum of €323,385 and a severance gratuity of €107,795,” it said.
The department also said that as Mr Scanlan held the post of chairman of the HSE in his capacity as secretary general, he would also step down from that position.
“Mr Scanlan has confirmed to the Minister he would be happy to play an appropriate role after his retirement, on a pro-bono basis, in helping to support the reform agenda in health, the Minister intends to pursue this once a successor has been appointed.”
Mr Scanlan’s successor at the department will be filled for the first time following an open competition.
Last year there was widespread controversy when it emerged that former secretary general to the Government Dermot McCarthy was to receive an annual pension of €142,670, a once-off lump sum of €428,011 and a special severance payment of €142,670.
The Government subsequently introduced changes to the retirement arrangements for secretaries general appointed after that point.
