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The secretary general of the Department of Health Robert Watt is coming under increasing pressure to say whether he is still waiving a €81,000 salary increase.
Mr Watt, former secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, was appointed to the role last April on a salary of €292,000, an €81,000 increase on his previous salary.
Mr Watt said at the time he would waive the increase “until the economy begins to recover and unemployment falls”.
A spokesman for the Taoiseach said at a post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday night that “transparency is always useful but it’s a matter for Robert Watt” as to whether he answers questions on the topic. It comes after the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said earlier this week that “there should not be any secrets” around “salaries like that and what people earn”.
“People know what I earn. People know what other senior civil and public service servants earn as well. I think transparency is always a good thing where it’s appropriate and I would expect that [question] would be answered at the appropriate time.”
During an appearance at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last month Mr Watt refused to say if he was still waiving the €81,000, telling TDs: “I wasn’t brought here to talk about these matters.”
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said on Tuesday that Mr Watt’s pay was a “private matter”.
“As you know, as a Cabinet Minister I surrender 10 per cent of my salary to the State and have done that for a very long time now – all Cabinet Ministers do but for civil servants that’s always obviously a decision for himself,
“He’s a civil servant. The rules are different for civil servants and public servants in relation to their salaries and pensions so I can’t answer for him.
“He has a salary that was agreed by Government. He took a personal decision to give back a portion of that salary. That was a personal decision. It wasn’t a Government decision.
“The fact is it is a personal decision and was a personal decision and there are privacy rights under GDPR and he is the only person who can waive those rights. Not me. And it’s for him to answer the question . . . and I respect the fact that it’s a personal decision.”