The former Secretary General of the Department of Health has said that, had a briefing meeting scheduled with the Tánaiste and Minister for Health proceeded last year, she would have been informed of the nursing care charges issue.
Michael Kelly was addressing a Dáil committee examining the issue.
But Mr Kelly said all the briefings were cancelled by Mary Harney’s private secretary and some had only been held in recent weeks. Mr Kelly said he complained in a memo about the lack of opportunity to hold briefings with the Health Minister.
He said that the issue of nursing home charges went 'off the boil' at the department, in his mind, in 2004.
According to Mr Kelly, officials saw the practice of charges as settled and were not working on the basis that the charges were illegal.
He said the fact that a missing file on the affair was not returned to him was also part of the reason the matter was not followed through.
He severely criticised John Travers, the author of the Travers Report, for the manner in which the report was prepared and subsequently published, because of prior assurances he said were given but not honoured.
Mr Kelly said he was unhappy with the low weight given in the Travers Report to evidence from an official that the missing file on the affair was seen outside the Health Minister's office in January 2004.
He said he accepted responsibility for any failings of the department but rejected any suggestion that information had been withheld by him.
Mr Kelly said it was not always easy for officials to record the reasons for political decisions when those decisions went against all the evidence and advice.
Cttee hears from Callely
Meanwhile, the former Minister of State at the Department of Health has said he told the Taoiseach about the long-stay nursing charges problem during the course of a Dáil vote in December 2003.
Ivor Callely, who had responsibility for older people, appeared today before the Oireachtas Health Committee which is examining the issue.
Mr Callely said his conversation with Bertie Ahern took place probably days after a crucial meeting of ministers and Department of Health officials on the issue at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.
He said he went up to Mr Ahern, who was seated in his chair, and that the Taoiseach listened and acknowledged the conversation.
The Minister of State with Responsibility for Disabilities and Mental Health Issues, Tim O'Malley, told the Oireachtas Committee he recognised the gravity of the matter when he read a briefing note prior to the 16 December meeting of ministers and officials in the Gresham.
When the decision to seek the advice of the Attorney General was taken at that meeting, Mr O’Malley expected it would be followed up.
