Former head of NW health board has received millions since retirement

A former of Head of the North-Western Health board who was a given a huge pay-off in 2005, has also received hundreds of thousands of euro in consultancy fees ever since.
Documents obtained by The Irish Examiner show that Letterkenny man, Pat Harvey has received over 1 million euro in severance fees, non-tendered projects and other payouts since retiring from the health service.
The documents show that Pat Harvey has received the money since 2005.
Pat Harvey is a former chair of the HSE Employers Agency, Chief Executive of the North Western Health Board, chair of PPARS and general manager of Letterkenny and Sligo hospitals.
Freedom of Information documents show he retired on September 23, 2005, said the paper.
In early 2006, the consultancy firm he founded on June 3, 2005, received two lucrative contracts from the HSE EA, which he previously chaired and was connected to in 2004.
An internal health service review confirmed these projects were not tendered for — a breach of HSE financial and governance regulations.
The projects given to Harwyn Management Consultants, totalling €295,526, were a €126,919 Violence and Aggression in the Workplace project Mr Harvey chaired, and a further €168,607 for mediation services.
When Mr Harvey left the HSE he received a once-off “severance gratuity” of €194,655 and a €60,934 “ex-gratia payment” given to former regional chiefs executive.
He also receives an annual pension of €64,855.
Since retiring Mr Harvey, chairman of the Croke Park agreement’s health service group, has received a €389,130.90 pension, €295,526 in non-tendered contracts from a group he used to chair, €255,589.49 in one-off severance pay. Just under €200,000 in HSE projects tendered for since 2007 and an annual salary of €20,520 as chair of the implementation body on health-sector reform.
The figures emerged after the Irish Examiner obtained a highly critical HSE internal audit on the HSE EA’s 2006-2009 spending.