Ireland. Health agencies face potential insolvency over pensions
Key health providers face possible insolvency in a dispute over pension liabilities in a confrontation that health officials warn could have adverse implications for Minister for Health Simon Harris.
The State’s corporate watchdog, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, is pursuing a number of agencies that are funded by the Department of Health to provide services on behalf of the HSE over the manner in which they account for the pensions of their employees.
The voluntary not-for-profit organisations – known as Section 38 bodies – “could shortly face court orders with litigation and regulatory penalties” if they continue with existing accounting policies for staff pensions, according to internal Department of Health papers.
Enforcement, which could also lead to significant legal costs and financial penalties for directors, could see the agencies becoming insolvent, the papers, which were drawn up in July for a hearing of the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts Committee, warn.
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