The board of the Health Service Executive offered to resign during a meeting with Minister for Health James Reilly in Dublin this afternoon.
Speaking after the meeting, Dr Reilly said the resignations were an important part of the change agenda he was looking to bring to the health service and that they were not a reflection on the individual board members, who he said had given great public service.
He commended the board members for showing leadership in agreeing to step down.
“It is to create greater integration at the top of the health service between the Department [of Health] and the HSE," he said of the move.
The Minister said he hoped to have legislation in place later this year to abolish the HSE board for good. Once the legal requirements for the existence of the board are removed and it is abolished, a new corporate governance structure will be put in place which will make the health services more directly accountable to Dr Reilly.
An interim board made up of top-level Department of Health and HSE officials is to be appointed in the coming weeks, the Department of Health said. Frank Dolphin has been asked to remain as chairman of the board during the interim period.
The HSE board is responsible for overseeing the implementation by HSE management of its annual service plan as agreed with the Government, as well as how its €14 billion budget is spent. It has been chaired by businessman Frank Dolphin since last summer.
"It will be very clear that the Minister for Health will have direct access to the top management of the HSE and department in a unified fashion. [The Minister] will be far more responsible for healthcare and will be responsible to the Oireachtas and the people through that mechanism," Dr Reilly said.
"I felt boards were being put in place to put a distance between ministers and their responsibilities. I’m shortening that chain of the command with this new change today and I believe that will be for the betterment of patients through improved services."
In a statement, the HSE said the move was "an important initial step" on the road towards implementing changes in how healthcare is delivered in Ireland - as detailed in the Programme for Government.
"This initiative will ensure that the work of the HSE is closely aligned with the Department of Health and will facilitate greater cohesion across the entire healthcare system as we tackle the issues of costs, quality and patient access within a difficult financial environment," the HSE said.
Dr Reilly said the move was not optics but rather an attempt to return to the days of greater ministerial accountability.
"I didn’t get into politics for spin or the appearance of changing things. I want real change. I am determined to make that change happen. I know in the past I have had the opportunity to talk the talk, and now I have the opportunity to walk the walk. And I will walk that walk."
HSE board member Eugene McCague earlier this week wrote to Dr Reilly offering to resign.
Other board members include Pat Farrell, chief executive of the Irish Banking Federation; Joe Mooney, a retired senior official of the Department of Finance; and Dr P Anne Scott, professor of nursing and deputy president of Dublin City University (DCU).
Also on the board were Niamh Brennan, professor of management at UCD; Dr Dermot Power, consultant in geriatric medicine at the Mater hospital; Sylda Langford, former director general of the Office of the Minister for Children; Joe Lavelle, manager with Deloitte; John Fitzgerald, former Dublin city manager; and Nuala Hunt, chartered accountant and tax consultant.
All current HSE board members were appointed by former minister for health Mary Harney.
