THE former chief executive of the North-Western Health Board has landed a consultancy job with the HSE.
Retired Pat Harvey walked away with a golden handshake severance payment of a whopping €255,256 and a staggering annual pension of €64,000.
He is currently receiving €20,520 a year from the Department of Heatlh for chairing the Health Sector Implementation Body.
Five other ex-HSE executives have also landed consultancy jobs.
Mr Harvey is a former CEO of the North Western Health Board and now working as an independent management consultant, Mr Harvey has also held the position of General Manager at both Letterkenny and Sligo General Hospitals.
The government is under pressure from within its own ranks as well as opposition parties to stop the practice of handing out consultancies to retired government staff.
However a source in the Department of Health told donegaldaily.com: “It’s a catch 22 situation. We’d like to appoint others to these sorts of positions but they are positions which require vast experience and people like Mr Harvey may well have retired but they continue to offer enormous benefits to the system.
“The remuneration isn’t vast considering the amount of experience he gives us.”