After all the revelations about exit packages in RTÉ, we have a new revelation about a senior official in the HSE being paid almost €400,000 to leave the organisation. This is an extraordinary amount of money. Does the Tánaiste know how much the public has spent on these sorts of pay-offs over the term of the Government? Does it run into millions, or perhaps many millions? How widespread is this? Does the Tánaiste agree we need to end these extraordinary pay-offs to those at the top of public bodies? We need a pay cap at the top of our public bodies throughout the public sector and we must no longer pay people off with hundreds of thousands of euro to leave very well-paid jobs.

Again, the HSE is an agency charged by the Oireachtas to run its affairs and organise health services across the country. There has been a slimming down of the centre and delegation to the regions. The position in the case in question was suppressed and there were legal issues as a result. Whether we like it or not, people are entitled to take a case. There was legal mediation that resulted in redundancy plus a settlement. The HSE took the decision that it wanted to reorganise and do things in an effective way, and that resulted in what has occurred. I can understand people's views on the size of the pay-off – the person was in office since 2017 – but neither I nor the Government can get involved in the affairs of every single agency to try to govern it in place of its CEO and board.