News broke on 17th February 2014 that Angela Kerins, the CEO of Rehab Group, earned a wage of €240,000 – a staggering €54,650 more than the taoiseach. The not-for-profit organisation which relied on an annual state funding of €82 million, primarily for services, disclosed this figure during a public controversy around the charitable sector. The revelation followed demands from the taoiseach at the time, Enda Kenny, and various ministers.
As a private sector worker with an initial career in nursing, Kerins was summoned to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to discuss state payments to Rehab. The events that unfolded in the public hearing on 27th February and a subsequent PAC hearing which Kerins could not attend, sparked a decade-long legal battle. Kerins sought compensation for what she claimed to be severe damage to her health, reputation and career.
In 2019, it was ruled by the Supreme Court that the PAC had overstepped its authority. The next stage of Kerins’s claim, relating to damages, was taken to the High Court. However, Kerins once again faced an obstacle in the form of Article 15.13 of the Constitution. This clause grants absolute privilege to parliamentary utterances, meaning the court could not consider her request for Dáil documents related to her damages claim.
Justice Alexander Owens ruled that Kerins’s claim was “not maintainable”, and the Supreme Court backed this decision, saying it was unable to separate her claim from the words spoken in parliament. The Chief Justice reminded that the Oireachtas has an obligation to uphold and defend individual rights and to take decisive action when an injustice has been carried out.