Latest news with #Browne
Extra.ie
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Extra.ie
'I'm in charge', says Browne amid claims he's lost reins over his top civil servants
Embattled Housing Minister James Browne has moved to assert his authority over his department and most senior civil servant, declaring: 'I am in charge of this brief.' He told 'Let me be clear; policy decisions are made by the minister. I lead, decide, and I am held to account for that.' Mr Browne spoke out after the secretary general of his own department publicly said there is no need for a housing 'tsar' to help the Government meet its pre-election promise to build 300,000 new homes over the next five years. Minister for Housing, James Browne. Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin Speaking at a Property Industry Ireland conference, Graham Doyle said: 'We do not need a housing tsar – can I just clear this one up please, once and for all? 'There is a sense in some quarters that if you knock a few heads together, if you give enough people a kick in the backside, then things happen. I only wish that was the case.' Mr Doyle's comments sparked a political backlash, with one minister criticising what they described as 'an unruly leadership class of senior mandarins who increasingly appear to believe they run the country'. Graham Doyle, Secretary General of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Pic: HSE The senior civil servant later issued a statement saying his issue was with the use of the term 'tsar', but he is 'fully supportive of the HAO [Housing Activation Office] and wholly supportive of the Minister and what he is trying to achieve in this regard'. But one senior figure central to the Government's housing strategy told 'When you are explaining, you are losing, particularly when the explanation is not convincing.' Another senior Coalition source noted: 'He [Doyle] demolished the Minister's own phraseology word by word and then expects us to believe what he is quoted as saying was not what he was saying. That lacks credibility.' Housing Minister James Browne. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA Wire They added: 'It represents another blow to the authority of Mr Browne. His top officials are running riot in that department, and he isn't even the referee. He's just a bystander.' The latest controversy comes after the botched attempt to appoint the €430,000 NAMA boss, Brendan McDonagh, who was Minister Browne's preferred choice to head up the new housing task force. And concern is also mounting over the political consequences of the difficulties Mr Browne appears to be having within his own department. Brendan McDonagh. Pic: Leah Farrell/ One minister noted of Mr Browne's new housing policy: 'If it is not radical and seen to be radical, public faith in our capacity to solve this crisis will melt away. 'It already is.' Mr Browne's political authority was initially weakened by the strong response of Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers, who warned his colleague's top civil servant that, while he is entitled to his own view, he will have to 'implement what the Government decides'. This contrasted sharply with Mr Browne's initial, more diplomatic observation that differences between him and Mr Doyle were a matter of 'semantics'. One senior Coalition source noted: 'It certainly raises serious, systemic questions as to who actually is in charge here. 'There is a real contrast between the way [Health Minister] Jennifer Carroll MacNeill cleared the Children's Health Ireland Board – four gone by their own hand – and the chaos in Housing. They added: 'I don't think a secretary general, even of [Department of Health Secretary General] Robert Watt's status, would be hanging around for long if they started calling out Jennifer.' Another veteran Government source added: 'He [Browne] lacks authority. If Graham Doyle had behaved in that way to [former finance minister] Charlie McCreevy, he would have been booted out of the department on his return.' Growing tensions between the Cabinet and senior civil servants have also increased unease about the longevity of the Coalition. One experienced TD told 'Governments do not always last for five years. 'The administration Bertie put together in 2007 [a coalition of Fianna Fáil, the Greens, two Progressive Democrats TDs and four Independents] barely managed to survive for three-and-a-half years, and all that kept them together for the last year of that was the IMF coming in. 'There are a lot of similarities between this administration and the 2007 coalition. The mood is very fragile and very dislocated. There is a similar sense of absence of control when it comes to housing, crime, everything really except for health.'
Irish Examiner
8 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Cork council to seek funding for free sunscreen in schools, libraries, and offices
Free sunscreen should be provided at all schools and public buildings to combat the rise of skin cancer and the likelihood it will increase with hotter weather due to climate change. Currently more than 11,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed every year and projections suggest that by 2045 they will more than double. On foot of these figures Cork County Council is to write to minister for health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill urging the government to provide sunscreen at all local authority offices, libraries, schools, third-level institutions, etc just like the roll-out of hand sanitisers during covid. The motion was proposed by Fine Gael councillor Aileen Browne, a healthcare worker, who said it would reduce the instances of skin cancer, which is now the most common cancer in Ireland. 'The financial argument is just as compelling. Treating advanced melanoma can cost our health service over €122,000 per case. Compare that to just over €4,000 for early-stage treatment. Prevention doesn't just save lives, it saves resources. It relieves pressure on an already overstretched health system,' Ms Browne said. She added that Irish people are vulnerable to the cancer because of fair skin. She said: And while clouds may block the warmth, they do not block UV rays. Your skin can burn, even when the sun is hidden. 'This motion supports Action Area One of the National Skin Cancer Prevention Plan to improve awareness and promote behaviour change. It aligns with the Healthy Ireland framework and the National Cancer Strategy, both of which call for cross-sectoral collaboration to embed preventive measures in everyday life,' Ms Browne added. Social Democrats councillor Ann Bambury, a mother of four young children, said it makes sense in an increasingly warming climate and added that the government should remove VAT from it as sunscreen is currently classified as a cosmetic. Independent councillor Ben Dalton-O'Sullivan said the HSE implemented a pilot sunscreen dispensing system at Fountainstown beach last year and he had asked some of its officials to roll it out to all beaches in Co Cork this summer. He didn't say if they had responded favourably to his request yet. County council chief executive Moira Murrell said she would fully support any such initiative, and the local authority already provides sunscreen to its outdoor workers. The county council is also rolling out the provision of free menstrual products at its offices which will be available to both staff and the public. This is being done following a request from Fianna Fáil councillor Gobnait Moynihan. Her party colleague Gillian Coughlan, who chairs Cork ETB, said she has proposed to it that the same initiative is also undertaken in all schools in the region.
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Irish Independent
‘Monstrous' headstones being erected in Tipperary cemetery in the middle of the night
That was the claim made by Cashel councillor Liam Browne at the May meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, who said that Tipperary County Council were turning a blind eye to the enforcement of by-laws in Cormac's Cemetery in Cashel which governs the height that headstones can be. Responding to Cllr Browne's calls, Cllr Roger Kennedy said that 'it's not fair on the ordinary people, who have a gravestone under four foot six, and the one beside it has an eight foot high monstrosity.' Speaking to the Irish Independent, Cllr Browne said that council by-laws are being ignored not just by people putting in headstones, but by the council as well who should be policing and enforcing the bylaws. "We have Tipperary County Council burial by-laws and to be quite frank, what I said at the meeting was that they're being ignored. "They're not just being ignored by the people putting up the headstones, which are out of size and scale for what they should be, but they're also being ignored by the council who should be policing the headstones that go in, and once they go in, there seems to be an acceptance by the council that there's nothing they can do about it,' Cllr Browne said. Large headstones are being erected at nighttime, Cllr Browne said, with Tipperary County Council officials encountering a contractor who was putting in an 'illegally sized' headstone under the cover of darkness. "The council did come across a contractor putting in an illegally sized headstone a couple of months ago, and they stopped the contractor from putting it in, they told them they were not an authorised contractor, and the contractor left, but they came back two days later at two or three o'clock in the morning and finished off the headstone,' Cllr Browne explained. "They then basically rang the council and said look, it's up now and ye can do what ye like with it, ye can take it down if ye like but as far as he was concerned, he had fulfilled what he was supposed to do, which was put it up,' the Cashel-based councillor added. Calling on the council to enforce the bylaws that are in place, Cllr Browne said that they should go after the contractors who are installing these headstones. "The council know that this is happening and whether they should be going after the contractor, I think they should because the contractor's obviously broken the law, but they don't, and then the families who are putting the headstones up, as sensitive a subject as it is, if you don't address it, I do believe it's going to get worse,' Mr Browne added. ADVERTISEMENT The Tipperary County Council burial ground bylaws state that headstones should be no taller than 4' 11', or 7' in the case of a Celtic Cross, but headstones that far exceed these rules have been installed in Cormac's Cemetery. At the May meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel MD, Cathaoirleach of the district Cllr John Crosse said that the council were not ignoring the issue and that a meeting and a site visit would be held to discuss the issue. 'I have to disagree [with Cllr Crosse] on that, we are ignoring it, we have been ignoring it, and we've been ignoring it in more than Cashel, we've been ignoring it in graveyards across the county because Cashel is not the only place that have complained,' Cllr Browne said. Action needs to be taken on these 'illegal' headstones according to the Cashel councillor, saying that people should be made aware that if they erect a headstone that doesn't comply with the burial ground bylaws, it can be taken down. "As much as I hate to think that it would have to be done, there may be a case, it has been done in the past, there is precedent of taking headstones back down again, you cannot just say look, if a headstone's gone up and it's in breach of a law, that it stays up, there's other cases of breaches of planning legislation around the county, you could look at modular homes, you could talk about extensions, but they would be very quick to move on the people involved, and use the law to have them taken back down again,' Cllr Browne said. "I've had conversations with members of the travelling community, and that suggestion has been made to them and some of them are quite happy with the suggestion that yes, they can still put up what they would consider 'fancy' memorials as they put it, but they would still have to remain within the bylaws,' the independent councillor added. "I believe that in too many cases, too many people talk for the traveller community, and not to the traveller community … sometimes if you sit down and have a chat with the local travelling community in the towns who are long-standing members of the town, due to the sensitivity of this, I don't think we chat enough to the travelling community themselves and see what can be accepted,' the Cashel councillor concluded. Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
What future for Children's Health Ireland?
The stream of controversies surrounding Children's Health Ireland (CHI) have placed the spotlight on the body which is charged with governing and operating the three paediatric hospitals in Dublin - Temple Street, Crumlin and the National Children's Hospital at Tallaght. The events of recent months have shocked parents, the public and the political system. A series of damning reports, the resignation of CHI's chairperson and four board members recently, plus several changes in the senior management, has placed a question mark over its future. With further review reports to be published, more damaging revelations are expected. Is CHI capable of managing the largest transformation project in the history of Irish healthcare, with the move to the new National Children's Hospital? 2019 CHI was established in 2018 as a statutory body and it took over governance of the three hospitals the following year. Its CEO reports to a 12-member board, which includes the chairperson. The board usually holds around 25 meetings a year, and a minimum of six. Board members work on a voluntary basis and receive no remuneration, except for expenses if claimed. In 2023, only two members claimed expenses. After the recent HIQA report into spinal operations, Prof Browne stood down as chairperson and in the past week, four other board members resigned; Dr Gavin Lavery, Brigid McManus, Catherine Guy and Mary Cryan. That leaves Dr Ruben Diaz, Mary Donovan, Jim Frawley, Orla O'Brien, Eleanor O'Neill and Joe Quinn. On Thursday, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill appointed two members to the board, both of them existing board members of the HSE, Dr Yvonne Traynor and Anne Carrigy. The last published annual report for CHI for 2023 shows that there were six meetings of the CHI Quality and Safety Committee during that year. The committee's role includes providing a level of assurance to the board on appropriate governance structures, processes, standards and controls relating to quality and patient safety. The committee also has several external members. Minister Carroll MacNeill has pointed out that the CHI Board is a different construct to anything she has seen in her time in public service. Of the 12 members, eight are appointed by the board itself and four by the minister. She has committed to looking at this issue. Why was CHI established? Usually in the health service, the HSE is responsible for running services for patients. However, it is the biggest public sector employer with over 130,000 staff and a massive budget of over €25m a year. The rationale behind setting up CHI lay in the singular job of bringing the three children's hospitals in Dublin together, for the move to the long-delayed and costly new National Children's Hospital, due to open next summer. In itself, it is a mammoth task. CHI is also responsible for an Urgent Care Centre for children open at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown and at Tallaght Hospital. First Chief Executive Officer The first CEO of CHI was Eilísh Hardiman, appointed in 2019. Last year, she left that post and moved over to a strategic role in CHI and was paid an equivalent salary to her CEO role. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the Dáil heard recently that CHI paid an undisclosed settlement to Ms Hardiman after she left her CEO post, even though her contract had come to an end. This is subject to a non-disclosure agreement. The PAC was told the reason for keeping Ms Hardiman was that a change in leadership was coming at a critical time and it would be important to retain the knowledge of the previous chief executive. The new CEO is Lucy Nugent who took up her post in January this year and had been CEO of Tallaght Hospital since 2019. Governance concerns Late last year, RTÉ News revealed details of a 2024 review of Operational Readiness at CHI, conducted by consultants KPMG. This was commissioned by the HSE. It questioned the operational readiness to commission and operate the new National Children's Hospital at the St James's Hospital campus. The report also pointed to gaps in senior leadership teams, a sub-optimal clinical governance structure, a lack of clarity around the future operating model and resourcing of the new hospital, plus the drift in expected completion dates. KPMG found clearly marked differences in culture and organisational maturity across the three children's hospitals. The report also found that pressures on the hospitals, in particular with waiting lists and patients waiting for scoliosis surgery, were placing considerable strain on key personnel and the organisation as a whole. Plus, the absence of a permanent CEO at the time and the arrangement of having an acting CEO, who had to combine duties with a large element of her deputy CEO/COO portfolio, was a challenge. Minister and the CHI Board Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill explained this week how she has a different relationship with the CHI Board in statute, than any other minister has with most other boards. She described it as "an unusual structure" and she does not have the authority to ask people to step down in the way that might normally be expected. The minister also said there were "toxic behaviours" within CHI that had been allowed to develop over time. She said these were individuals who were very defiant and who had not gone along with what the noard and the executive and the broader thrust of public policy has been. Given that health staff at the three children's hospitals are paid by the public purse and have contractual obligations, this is a serious matter that needs to be resolved urgently by the employer in the public and patient interest. Latest crisis As a result of recent reviews, we now know that many hip surgeries on children at Temple Street and Cappagh Orthopaedic hospitals were not necessary. It is important to note that Crumlin was also included in the review, but it was found not to be conducting unnecessary hip operations. Parents of around 1,800 children are being offered independent reviews and this process will take months. There were serious spinal surgery incidents and use of unapproved springs by a consultant at Temple Street and Cappagh. This consultant is on leave. A separate review by UK expert, Mr Selvadurai Nayagam, into these matters is due to be completed soon. And last weekend, the revelation that a consultant was referring public patients to his own private weekend clinics for work paid for by the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). The NTPF has clarified that it only ever pays hospitals directly and never consultants. The internal report by CHI into this affair is expected to be published soon. Can CHI survive? It is difficult to see CHI surviving in its current form, given these events and more very difficult reports to be published. The Minister for Health has appointed two HSE Board members to the CHI Board to strengthen governance. But will that be enough? Because the CEO of CHI reports to the board, a functional board is needed for CHI to properly operate and progress the move to the new children's hospital. Opposition politicians have called for CHI to be subsumed into the HSE. But there are questions as to whether the HSE could, or would, even want to absorb a body, with so many challenges ahead, given that the HSE is going through its own recent transitional reforms to six new health regions. So, this poses major challenges, with a year to go before the planned move to open the new National Children's Hospital. I spoke to some medical staff for the purposes of this analysis. A common view is that the only way to sort the mess out is to work at an organisational level, to massively improve culture, corporate and clinical governance. Otherwise, the project could be in existential danger. Some senior staff believe that realistically, the hospital may not open until around April 2027 and that it would be better to set that date now, rather than be endlessly adjusting. Staff planning is impossible with a moving target and the uncertainty can be corrosive. Merger of hopsital Merging hospitals with different cultures and staff is very difficult. We have been here before a few times. In the late 1990s, I covered the merger of the Meath, the Adelaide and the National Children's Hospital, Temple Street into what became Tallaght Hospital. It opened in summer 1998 and the first few years were fraught with difficulties. It takes a long time for a new hospital to bed down. Before that, there was the merger of Jervis Street and the Richmond Hospitals which became Beaumont Hospital. It opened in November 1987 and faced its own teething problems and divisions. Inevitably, bringing hospitals together and the personalities and competing departments within them will be testing. There are also concerns that a considerable number of staff could decide to leave in the transfer, if the situation looks gloomy. The priority for the new National Children's Hospital must be the patients and their parents. Also, staff have a right to work in a good safe, working environment, under transparent governance. CHI will be coming before the Oireachtas Health Committee soon to answer many of the questions posed here. Conclusion The Government must bring clarity to the future of CHI quickly, as well as reassuring the public that the service is safe. It will likely want to have receipt and publication of all of the reports before making final decisions. The report by Mr Nayagam is likely to include findings and recommendations on governance also, so that will be very important too. Strengthening the CHI Board with new appointments should also help and other board vacancies still need to be filled. With just a year to go before the new national paediatric hospital is due to open, there is very limited time to get the operational structure right. CHI has been faced with so many challenges that it has largely been focused on managing business as usual for the three hospitals, and has had little time for planning the big move. The decisions facing the Government and the Minister for Health are incredibly serious, as on them hinge the future of healthcare for children, for the next decade and beyond.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
Over 230 new social houses opened in Meath developments
Over 230 new social houses have been officially opened across three residential developments in Co Meath. The developments, which cost a total of around €81.3 million to build, are located in Farganstown outside Navan, Aylesbury in Clonee and Millrace in Ashbourne. The development at Farganstown outside Navan, which cost over €25.8 million, consists of 84 new homes on a 1.7 hectare site. The Aylesbury development in Clonee cost over €28 million and consists of 73 new apartments in two apartment blocks close to the village. Meanwhile, at a cost of around €27.5 million, the development in Millrace in Ashbourne is made up of 74 new homes on a 2.8 hectare site. Minister for Housing James Browne visited each of the three developments today to mark the official opening of the houses. Speaking afterwards, Minister Browne commended Meath County Council for exceeding their five-year social housing delivery target and for their "forward-thinking approach" in acquiring land for future social housing projects. The minister said: "Beyond the numbers and delivery figures, it's crucial to remember the real impact: a family or individual whose life will be greatly enhanced by having a long-term, secure and affordable home in a thriving community. These 231 new homes aren't just roofs over heads, they offer peace of mind and long-term security. Meanwhile, the Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council, Councillor Sharon Tolan said: "Late last year, when we launched Meath County Council's Corporate Plan, I emphasised the council's unwavering commitment to excellence in every priority, strategy and vision we set out. Providing high-quality homes to people was a key priority in that plan. "I am thrilled to welcome the completion of 231 beautiful new homes in three rapidly growing areas within our county, especially considering the current national housing challenges." Chief Executive of Meath County Council Kieran Kehoe said he was proud that the local authority continued to exceed its delivery targets despite being in the middle of a national housing crisis. "These developments are yet another example of Meath County Council and our partners in the Department of Housing recognising our communities' diverse needs and delivering high-quality housing solutions to meet them. "At Meath County Council, we remain as focused as ever in making major strides to address the housing challenges for the people of Meath," Mr Kehoe added. It comes as the latest homelessness figures, which were published today, show that 15,580 people were accessing emergency accommodation in April, an increase of 162 compared to the previous month.
