Taoiseach office tells HSE boss to hold talks with Cork hospital chief
Documents reveal a heated board meeting where the regional executive warned the hospital director of performance management after a leaked letter on staffing shortages.
By James Anderson ·
The office of Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill instructed Andy Philips, the regional HSE executive for the south and southwest, to have specific conversations with Jennifer Kearney, the chief executive of Cork University Hospital. Minutes from an executive management board meeting on August 20 show Philips telling Kearney he had been directed by both government offices to discuss their concerns directly with her.
The meeting took place days after Kearney wrote to her superiors on August 17. In that letter, she stated that delays in approving posts and restrictions on recruitment left the hospital with a shortage of more than 1,000 staff. She argued that these gaps created increasing patient safety risks. The letter was leaked to the media the day before the board meeting.
Philips warned Kearney during the meeting that she could face a performance management process. He stated, “If I have to go to performance management I will.” When Kearney asked if he was threatening her, he replied that these were performance management issues. He added, “There are things that are not acceptable to Government and some things that are not acceptable to me.”
HSE regional management argued that parts of Kearney’s letter were incorrect. Philips told her, “If you start saying things in the media which are incorrect, there will be a very pointed conversation to be had.”
Spokeswomen for both Martin and Carroll MacNeill denied on Friday that they had spoken to Philips during August. The Taoiseach’s office said he did not meet, speak to, or give instructions to the regional executive officer during that month. The Minister’s office stated she did not have a conversation with Philips on the matters concerned, so she could not speak to what he said in the meeting.
Kearney spoke at the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association annual conference earlier in October. She said she absolutely stands by the comments in her letter and noted that the situation is getting worse. HSE South West did not respond to questions about conversations between Philips and the government offices.
In a statement, HSE South West acknowledged the operational and financial challenges facing the hospital. It announced a program of additional support involving its regional executive team and national supports to address critical vacancies. Carroll MacNeill said on Friday that a national patient safety office visit found the hospital’s safety profile stable throughout 2026.
