Civil servant who stepped down from Justice to move to HSE

Brian Purcell, the former secretary general of the Department of Justice, is to be to be moved by the Government to a new position as head of compliance in the Health Service Executive.

Mr Purcell asked to be moved from his post in the Department of Justice to another part of the public service following the findings of an independent review group set up by the Government earlier this year.

The report found a “closed, secretive, silo-driven culture” at the department with “significant leadership and management problems”.

At the time of his departure from the department in July, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar suggested that for contractual reasons Mr Purcell would continue to receive his previous salary of more than €180,000.

In his new role he will seek to ensure that all voluntary hospitals and agencies in receipt of funding from the HSE keep to their service agreements.

A number of these organisations were at the centre of the top-up controversy last year over making unauthorised payments to senior executives.

The new position in the HSE is aimed at generating a culture among agencies and organisations of compliance with service level agreements on how money should be spent and what they should provide in return.

The HSE provides about €3.1 billion in funding annually to almost 3,000 voluntary agencies and organisations for a range of services.

Mr Purcell had previously served as director general of the Irish Prison Service.