Tá an ciorcal órga beo fós. Tá sé tagtha chun cinn arís go bhfuil íocaíochtaí ollmhóra á dtabhairt do dhaoine le poist ardleibhéil. Tá an rud seo ag tarlú fad is atá daoine eile ag streachailt, ina measc iad siúd nach bhfuil cártaí leighis acu. The Central Remedial Clinic, CRC, is currently the focus of ongoing controversy over so-called top-ups to senior executives, and there are contradictory claims between the HSE and the CRC about who knew what and when issues were known with regard to the topping up of payments. At a time of widespread cutbacks, it is grossly unacceptable that money donated to charity be used to line the pockets of already very highly paid senior executives. The latest revelations have deeply angered citizens across the State and there is a crisis of confidence about how donations to charities are being used, despite the fact that 95% of charities are not affected by this scandal.

Charities still need our support, not least because of the devastating effects of the Government's austerity policies. Charities also need regulation, and the Government must move with speed to create a regulatory authority, as promised in July. Does the Tánaiste accept that a full independent inquiry is needed to get the facts of the scandal? Will he factor into that the effect, arising from the culture of privilege and corruption, on the Government's credibility when it is itself in breach of its caps on the pay of special advisers? On the one hand it has railed against what is happening with these top-ups, but at the same time it has allowed top-ups in the pay of special advisers.

I agree that people who donate to charities are to be commended for their generosity, even in difficult times. That work should not be undermined by what has happened in some agencies and issues relating to the pay of senior executives. We have to bear in mind that this issue has come to the fore because the HSE has undertaken a study of the different agencies and levels of pay. It is operating on the basis of consistent application of Government pay policy.

I do not agree that we need some kind of full-blown public inquiry on the levels of pay in the different agencies, as that is quite easily established, and the HSE has sought to establish that from each of the agencies to which it provides funding. There is a dispute between the HSE and the CRC, for example, with regard to what happened and whether a level of payment was approved. I am glad the CRC has issued a statement on that and it has agreed to co-operate with the Oireachtas committee on the issue.

The process started by the HSE is continuing and it is important that it be completed. There should be transparency around levels of pay, and this is particularly important for confidence in the charitable sector and bodies in receipt of donations from the public to be restored. I believe it will be.

Could I hazard a guess that if this happened on Fianna Fáil's watch the Tánaiste would call for a fully independent inquiry?

It did.

It did happen on Fianna Fáil's watch.

Deputy Adams should be allowed to contribute without interruption.

I see no rationale in the Tánaiste rejecting this simple, straightforward request because there is a culture of privilege and it is continuing on the Tánaiste's watch. We must be alert to the fact that this could go beyond the CRC. If I understood the Tánaiste correctly, he said the CRC is in breach of Government pay policy. However, the Government is in breach of Government pay policy and that creates a difficulty.

People are most charitable. I agree entirely with the Tánaiste’s commendation of those who give to charities but nobody who gives money for equipment to help a child or elderly person or for research into the ailments that affect sick citizens want it to be used to top up already extravagant salaries. In 2011 the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, a member of the Labour Party, cleared the payment by the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, a Fine Gael Minister, of a salary of €195,000 to the then acting chief executive of St. Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin to take over HSE hospitals in the west.

Could the Deputy ask a question please? He is over time.

Is that why the Tánaiste will not agree to a full, independent inquiry into this scandal, because two of his Ministers have breached the Government’s pay policy and two Ministers have also agreed on a huge salary in defiance of all that he has just said?

There is a difference between those who cause a problem and those who solve it. There has been a problem about levels of pay in the section 38 organisations. The Government is addressing it. As Deputy Adams will recall, the issue came to light when a HIQA report was carried out on Tallaght hospital in 2012. Following that, the Minister for Health requested the HSE to carry out a complete analysis of the section 38 bodies to find out what levels of pay are being paid and whether they are compliant with pay guidelines. That is the exercise that is now under way. It is as part of the exercise that the information that has now come into the public domain about the levels of pay paid to various agencies has come to the fore. The issue is being addressed. We are determined to resolve it. To suggest that somehow something is being continued when it is being addressed is quite perverse. The problem is being addressed. It is important in so doing, in particular for charitable organisations which raise a lot of money from voluntary donations, that the confidence of the public in such organisations is not undermined but is maintained in terms of where money that has been donated goes. The Minister for Health is determined that pay in those organisations will be addressed. The issue is being dealt with, and that is why the HSE carried out the exercise in the first place. The process will continue until it has been completed.