HSE chiefs in credit card binge

More sickening **** from the HSE. Seriously though have they got no morals at all, people on trolleys are dying and the swan around in Shanahans and the like spending decent peoples money. Flowers like, FFS.


http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/hse-chiefs-in-credit-card-binge-1930491.html


TOP executives at the cash-strapped Health Service Executive (HSE) have spent tens of thousands of euros of taxpayers' money on lavish meals in Michelin-starred restaurants, business class transatlantic flights, limousines, golf green fees and clamping charges, the Sunday Independent can reveal.
Late on Friday, in a bid to counter today's Sunday Independent revelations, the vast HSE public relations machine announced it was publishing quarterly credit card use by its managers on the HSE website. Those figures are grim, but they do not show the full excesses of the rampant waste of taxpayers' money over the last number of years.
Executive credit card receipts obtained under the Freedom of Information Act expose extraordinary spending binges over the last three years. HSE chief executive Brendan Drumm, whose €70,000 bonus caused fury some weeks ago, oversees the beleaguered HSE with its €12bn budget.
The bloated organisation, which costs almost as much as the entire payroll for the two million-strong Chinese Red Army, faces a savage winter of swingeing cuts in staff pay and patient services.
Details of these extravagant spending habits will further tarnish relations with under-resourced hospital doctors and nurses at the coalface of healthcare.
Brian Gilroy, the HSE's head of estates, spent €1,296 on dinner for some Canadian consultants in Ross Lewis's splendid Michelin-starred restaurant Chapter One in June 2007. He'd spent €313 on a meal in the restaurant a week earlier. HSE boss Brendan Drumm spent €919.01 at Chapter One in November 2006 for "a working dinner" with diplomats from the Caribbean island of Grenada.
HSE national director Tommy Martin filed a bill for a €1,250 retirement dinner at Giorgio Casari's uber-trendy Unicorn restaurant in January 2006. Laverne McGuinness, national director for Primary Community and Continuing Care spent €1,285.55 on a summertime meal in Shanahan's on the Green, home of the €52 rib-eye steak. Another €600 was spent on a knees-up at Pearl brasserie.
The taxpayer also funded meals totalling thousands of euros in some of Dublin's finest eateries, including Dobbins, the Merrion Hotel, One Pico, the Winding Stair, Bijou, Peploes, Rhodes D7, Quay West Cafe, and the Mint Bar in the Westin Hotel. The executives did take the cheaper option on occasion, with one bill showing a €62 pizza delivery from Apache Pizza, according to documents obtained by the Sunday Independent under the Freedom of Information Act.
Drumm and his praetorian guard of top managers travelled the globe at the taxpayer's expense, flying business class and staying in some of the finest hotels around.
Apart from visiting Sweden, Drumm's travels have taken him across the North American continent.
Drumm's hotel bills for his US and Canadian expedition cost almost €4,200. The trip included a stay at the world-famous €360 per night Helmsley Hotel in Manhattan, owned by the late 'Queen of Mean', Leona Helmsley, -- who willed $12m to her dog.
He also stayed in the Toronto Royal Meridien and the Westin Chicago. "The overseas trips undertaken by Professor Drumm were entirely and exclusively in the performance of his duties and in particular with the development of key strategic initiatives," according to the HSE.
In a three-year period, other HSE executives clocked up hotel bills of about €4,800, staying in hotels from Sydney Harbour to Toronto. The top brass have stayed at the Danubia Health Spa Resort at Thermal, Budapest, the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto, the Philadelphia Sheraton, the Sheraton Chicago, the Philadelphia Hilton, the Seattle Hilton, Portland Hilton, the St James' Court Hotel in London, the Hotel Barcelona Princess, the Marque Hotel Canberra, Australia, and Sebel Pier One at Sydney Harbour.
Drumm's transatlantic journeys were business class flights -- although the HSE points out that he flies economy for European travel.
Credit card receipts show he spent €5,834 with Trailfinders on flights to Toronto and Los Angeles as part of a business trip in mid 2006. His partner has never accompanied him on overseas business trips, according to the HSE. Other HSE suits paid for a €4,081 round-trip flight from Dublin to Philadelphia and Toronto, with another spending €1,984 on a flight from Toronto to Dublin with Air Canada.
HSE top-rankers criss-crossed Ireland on internal flights, spending thousands of euro with Aer Arann. Priority Lounge fees at airports were also charged on the HSE credit cards.
The HSE also spent €80 to pay a clamping fee for Brian Gilroy before he had even joined the HSE. Gilroy was clamped as he was being interviewed for the job, with the HSE agreeing to pay the fine. Brendan Drumm's card was also used to pay a €95 clamping fee following the clamping of a "VIP guest".
Limousines were also charged to the HSE, with Brendan Drumm hiring "Spectacular Limo Link" for €84.82 in Long Island and a further €78.71 for "Amm's Limousine Service" in Chicago. Unique Limousine charged the HSE €84.52 for a trip from JFK Airport into New York. Limousine Service also cost €41.46 in Etobicoke, Canada. The taxpayer also stumped up for a €50 Luas smart card for one executive.
The HSE coughed up €82 for green fees at the Paradise Golf Club in Malahide for a Canadian orthopaedic surgeon, according to credit card statements for the head of estates, Brian Gilroy.
Executive credit cards were used for spending €204 in the Argus living furniture shop in Bray, €161.10 at the Kilkenny Design Shop in Dublin, and €295 at the Applewood Gallery in Swords. Executives used their company credit cards to pay for office television licences. Bills also revealed extensive spending at flower shops around the country, ranging from Morans in Cork to Linda's Flowers in Swords.