Top up payments to senior hospital executives will come under scrutiny today when the Director General of the HSE appears before the Public Accounts Committee.
Tony O'Brien will answer questions on recent revelations that senior health managers are getting 3.2 million a year in unsanctioned pay and allowances funded by the public purse.
It's also emerged that more than one-in-four health agencies give senior staff top-ups from private sources.
The unsanctioned HSE payments to hospital executives include: Clinical Directors Allowances totalling over 1 million Euro and Motor Allowances of more than 90 thousand Euro.
The head of the HSE is also expected to tell TDs that his agency will need hundreds of millions of euro in extra funding this year.
Tony O'Brien is expected to give details of his agency's budget shortfall to the PAC.
It's been speculated that the agency could need over 200 million euro in extra funding - its sixth budget bailout in six years.
Health minister James Reilly has already admitted that another overrun will occur this year - but hasn't yet said how much.
As of the end of September, the HSE had overspent by 119 million euro - but the deficit could well be larger by the end of the year.
