Ahern defends McSweeney switch to new job

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has defended the original appointment of Barry McSweeney as chief scientific adviser and his move to another State job, in the wake of the controversy about his doctorate from an unrecognised university.

As Green Party leader Trevor Sargent criticised the adviser's "sideways move" to the position of research co-ordinator for the Department of the Marine, Mr Ahern told the Dáil that "if the name of the game is to dump people on the street because of a bit of controversy, it will be a bad day for this country and one I do not like".

The Taoiseach acknowledged that "a controversy about a qualification which Mr McSweeney did not require has damaged the organisation". But he said that the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources had identified a requirement to fill a research position. "As Barry McSweeney is moving from his current post, it makes eminent sense to use his considerable expertise in this area."

Raising the issue on leaders' questions Mr Sargent said of the controversy that "a great deal of public money as well as Ireland's credibility and that of its scientific community are at stake".

He asked "how can scientists advising on research in the fields of energy, marine, communications and other technologies have confidence in a person who was effectively removed from a position on the basis of false qualifications". He said the move was a carbon copy of the punishment meted out to the former general secretary of the department of health when he moved to the Higher Education Authority following the controversy over nursing home charges.

He asked had the Taoiseach "learned nothing from this fiasco, which results from poor vetting and no competition", and said that to prevent a recurrence of this problem "can we have an audit of all Government appointee qualifications, given that the Civil Service Commission did not have a role in this particular appointment".

He added: "The Tánaiste lectures us on competition day in and day out. Where lies her credibility on the issue of competition when a word from a former leader of the British Labour Party is sufficient to make an appointment. That really takes the biscuit."

Mr Ahern said, however, that Neil Kinnock was head of staffing matters in the commission. Ireland has been competent in having people appointed to the highest positions in the European institutions as was the case with Mr Barry McSweeney a former head of the EU's joint research centre".

Defending Dr McSweeney's appointment, Mr Ahern said the decision to appoint a chief adviser was "part of a wider package of measures in the area of science co-ordination and oversight".

He added that "Barry McSweeney, who held an MSc from Trinity College, apart from the controversial qualification, was head of the EU research institute and had 2,500 people under him. He had already been responsible for the Marie Curie EU fellowship programme for some years in the 1990s."