Increasing the salary of the chief executive of St John’s Hospital in Limerick was “in the best interests of the hospital and its continued operations”, its board has told staff.
Last week, The Irish Times reported that the salary of Emer Martin, CEO of the Limerick voluntary hospital, was increased to that of a higher pay band - breaching the consolidated public pay scales.
According to the HSE, the hospital is considered H2, under which chief executives can earn between €99,829 and €106,866.
However, the board in 2023 agreed to increase Ms Martin’s salary to that of a H3 hospital, which has a salary scale of between €119,571 and €140,747
READ MORE
In an all-staff email last Friday afternoon, Bishop Brendan Leahy, chairman of the board of St John’s, said they do not publicly discuss staff salaries, but added it was “important that we clarify the context”.
“Firstly, CEO salary issue is not a matter exclusive to St John’s Hospital and is part of a national pay claim on behalf of voluntary sector CEOs that has trade union support,” he said.
“The backdrop is that, in 2015, salary levels for CEOs in voluntary hospitals were significantly reduced, which in turn created significant ongoing issues for the voluntary hospital sector in terms of recruiting and retaining CEOs.”
Bishop Leahy said the board is aware that salaries for other voluntary hospital chief executives have been “brought in line with that of previous postholders and their HSE counterparts”.
“As a board, we decided unanimously to incrementally increase our CEO’s salary in line with others in the best interests of the hospital and its continued operations,” he said.
“I want to stress that the board of St John’s, in doing this, honoured its fiduciary responsibility to ensure that governance here is delivered to the highest standards and is fully satisfied that it met those obligations here.”
In its most recent financial accounts, for 2024, an independent auditor provided a report to the hospital board that found it incurred a deficit of €1.32 million, resulting in an accumulated deficit carried forward of €5.51 million.
“These losses have primarily arisen from increasing patient support needs and rising costs associated with healthcare delivery. The hospital is primarily funded by the HSE in delivering its services,” the report said.
In his staff communication, Bishop Leahy said “all hospitals, including statutory and voluntary agencies, have reported financial deficits for many years, including last year”.
He continued: “The reality is that over-runs in the voluntary sector are mainly driven by historical funding issues – a funding shortage acknowledged by the HSE, which has committed to address the matter."
The Limerick city hospital, which is a registered charity under the Charities Act, received €41.8 million in HSE funding last year.
A spokeswoman for HSE Mid West, the health region under which St John’s falls, said it is “aware of an issue of noncompliance with the public pay policy within St John’s Hospital, Limerick”.
“We are in discussions with the board of St John’s to ensure that all their employees are in full compliance with consolidated pay scales as approved by the Department of Health and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.”
