By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor
A ST JOHN of God boss who received a secret €145,000 top-up is refusing to say whether any of the money has been paid back now that she is leaving for a new public sector role.
Sharon Balmaine (pictured right) was one of 14 SJOG managers who shared millions in secret top-ups in 2013 – at the same time the charity told the HSE that no such payments were being made.
Ms Balmaine, whose share of the top-up bonanza amounted to €145,000, is now leaving SJOG for a new role with Fáilte Ireland.
John Pepper – the former chief executive officer who oversaw the pay-out ruse and who personally received more than €2m in secret top-ups – has also departed. He retired in December, more than a year after going on extended sick leave in the wake of the scandal.
There have been repeated calls – including from the Cabinet – for those who received secret payouts to repay the money. However, despite a damning HSE audit which recommended the unauthorised top-ups be clawed back, a SJOG spokesperson and Ms Balmaine this week both refused to say if she has paid anything back. ‘Sharon Balmaine has informed the Group of her intention to take up a new position,’ a spokesperson said.
‘The Group thanks Sharon for her considerable positive contribution to the organisation and wishes her well in her new role.’ Asked whether or not she had – or would – repay her top-up, the spokesperson would only say that SJOG ‘is in direct discussions with the HSE with regards to the audit’. The MoS left voice and text messages on Ms Balmaine’s mobile phone, but received no response to questions about her intentions.
It is understood though that none of those in receipt of the 2013 windfall – which was designed to circumvent public sector pay rules – have yet refunded the proceeds.
The HSE audit, which was sparked by revelations of the topups in this newspaper, noted that the top-ups were calculated on the assumption that the recipients would work with SJOG until retirement. This means that anyone leaving before that, as several of the managers have, will have been paid for work they will never do.
The fact that Ms Balmaine – the HR manager at SJOG – is leaving for a new publicly-funded job means that she is still within reach of the HSE and the Department of Finance if it decides to seek the incremental return of her top-up.
The MoS understands that, under pressure from the HSE, SJOG did ask the 14 senior executives in question to consider repaying the money. Some managers, it is believed, initially indicated they were willing to do so and options tabled included a once-off lump sum repayment, staged instalments deducted from wages or a reduction in pension entitlements upon retirement.
However, subsequently the managers are understood to have reconsidered and sought legal advice about the matter.
Last night, the HSE said it does not comment on specific individual circumstances ‘which are strictly a contractual matter between persons concerned and the employer’.
In response to questions from the MoS, a spokesperson said the HSE had ‘been working intensively with the Board of St John of God Community Services across a range of areas such as regulatory compliance, service performance, governance and matters relating to compliance with public pay policy’.
