When a senior government worker resigned from their position earlier this year, the Department of Media provided them with a severance payment of about €220,000, reports RTE.
Following the revelation of the number in TDs’ parliamentary question replies, government sources verified that Katherine Licken, the former secretary general of the Department, had received the payment.
The Department responded to a legislative inquiry from Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, Labour TD Alan Kelly, and Independent TD Carol Nolan, stating that one person received a €219,240 severance compensation.
According to the Department, the payment was given “in accordance with the Top Level Appointments Committee retirement terms,” which have been in effect for all new secretary general appointments since October 2011. It was made at the secretary general severance level.
A note from Minister for Media Catherin Martin accompanying the response said: “My Department in its current configuration was established in September 2020 and the reply relates to the period from that date. Redundancy or severance payments in the Civil Service generally arise with respect to specific categories of employees, as determined by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENDR) and approved by Government,” reports RTE.
“There was one severance payment and one redundancy payment made over that period in respect of my Department, as set out in the table below. The contractual entitlements arising were calculated in accordance with the rules as determined above. The payments did not arise out of settlement agreements outside the normal arrangements and the issue of separate sanction did not arise,” reports RTE.
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