Top civil servant in Department of Housing to get €15k raise after lengthy dispute

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe told Cabinet colleagues yesterday that he is implementing an independent review panel’s recommendations to increase the pay of the secretaries general in the Departments of Housing and Children.

It means Department of Housing secretary general Graham Doyle, who has been embroiled in a long-running dispute over his salary, will see his pay rise from €240,000 to €255,000 a year, while Department of Children secretary general Kevin McCarthy’s salary increases from €227,369 to €240,000 a year.

Mr Donohoe said the changes would be effective from the date of their appointments, meaning both senior civil servants will receive back pay likely to amount to thousands of euro – despite this not being part of the panel’s recommendations.

The Sunday Independent revealed last January that Mr Doyle had raised the possibility of legal action in discussions as part of a long-running HR dispute with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER).

The fraught internal battle involved several senior figures including the country’s most senior civil servant Martin Fraser, who is now Ireland’s ambassador to the UK, along with attorney general Rossa Fanning and officials in Mr Donohoe’s department.

The independent review panel chaired by Dr Donal de Buitléir did not refer to backdating the changes in salary grades to the dates that the two secretaries general were appointed.

Mr Doyle was appointed to the Custom House from the Department of Transport in July 2020, whilst Mr McCarthy was appointed to the Department of Children from the Department of Rural Development in January 2022.

A spokesperson for Mr Donohoe said: “While not a recommendation in the report, the analysis set out in the report highlights the degree to which the expansion of scope and functions of these posts has taken place in recent years. As such, it is appropriate that this would be reflected in the implementation of the report’s recommendations.”

Mr Donohoe’s department was not able to say how much in backdated pay both senior officials are now entitled to as a result of the minister’s decision as it would depend on their personal circumstances, any unpaid leave or “other working arrangements that may apply”.

The review recommended that the Department of Housing secretary general post move from grade 2 to grade 1 on the salary scale, bringing it line with the salaries paid to top civil servants in the Departments of Taoiseach, Finance and Public Expenditure.

It said the Department of Children secretary general post should move from grade 3 to grade 2.

“It is clear that the responsibilities of the two posts in question are significantly increased than when the present grades were determined and, on the basis of this interim assessment, also relative to other such posts,” the 30-page report states.

It was revealed last January that Mr Doyle had contended that when he transferred to Housing in July 2020 it had been agreed with Mr Fraser, the Department of the Taoiseach secretary general, that the role would be recategorised to the top salary grade.

But this was was disputed by DPER, which is responsible for pay and conditions in the public sector, which argued that no agreement had been made.

Mr Fanning, the attorney general, is understood to have been asked by the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to try to resolve the matter.

Mr Doyle was asked about the issue at a Public Accounts Committee hearing last June where he insisted that it was “not an issue of seeking a pay increase” but declined to go into detail.

“This is an issue about the grade of a position. Again, it was not something I actually sought.

” I really cannot get drawn into the detail of an individual HR matter,” he told Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor.

The Department of Housing said it doesn’t comment on details of individual staff.