Holohan confirms he does not intend to return to role of chief medical officer

Dr Tony Holohan has confirmed for the first time he does not intend to return to the role of chief medical officer at any point in the future after taking up a new position at Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

In an opening statement sent to the Oireachtas Committee on Health before it met on Thursday, Dr Holohan defended the new role saying the third-level sector would play a vital role in meeting the challenge of future pandemics.

The statement came after it emerged that Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly was only made aware on Tuesday that Dr Holohan’s new position at TCD was a secondment from the Department of Health.

Dr Holohan was announced as the professor of public health strategy and leadership at Trinity on March 25th, but it later emerged the Department of Health would fund the role, continuing to pay Dr Holohan’s annual salary of €187,000.

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At the time of the role announcement, Mr Donnelly was quoted in a press release wishing the chief medical officer “all the best in this new and exciting chapter in his career”.

However, he was not aware then that Dr Holohan would remain an employee of the department, and a spokesman confirmed the Minister was only made aware of the secondment almost two weeks later.

In his statement on Thursday, Dr Holohan said: “My secondment to Trinity College Dublin means I have agreed to relinquish my role as chief medical officer; it is not my intention to return to this role at any point in the future. It is important that my successor feels fully empowered and enabled to undertake the role as they see fit.”

He also hinted that the new role would form part of the work of the Department of Health in the future. “Specifically, the Department intends me to lead the development and activities of inter-institutional collaboration between universities and the health sector and to develop stronger links with the WHO and agencies of the EU.”

Dr Holohan’s move was described by Trinity as an “open-ended secondment”. The university said the post was “created with Dr Holohan in mind” but neither it nor the department confirmed where the idea first originated.

‘Disdain and disrespect’

The decision by Department of Health officials not to disclose details of the secondment to the Minister for Health has been criticised.

Mr Donnelly’s spokesman said: “The Minister was made aware that this was a secondment [on Tuesday]. Mr Donnelly was advised of Dr Holohan’s departure some weeks ago, but not the finer HR details.”

The disclosure raises further questions about who authorised the secondment, and the decision to keep paying Dr Holohan’s salary, and why neither the Minister nor Taoiseach Micheál Martin was informed about the arrangement until the matter was on the verge of becoming public this week.

Former Fine Gael minister Charlie Flanagan said on Thursday he found it extraordinary to learn of what he called the “disdain and disrespect” shown to Mr Donnelly.

“It is unacceptable that nobody on the management board in the Department of Health would even think it appropriate not to ask, much less inform, the Minister on Dr Holohan’s appointment,” he said.

Sinn Féin spokesman on health David Cullinane said: “It is extraordinary that Stephen Donnelly only found out about this and was not aware. Who came up with this process and who signed off on it? Why was the Minister not informed?

“It is very odd. There are questions about transparency within the Department of Health and HSE.”

He added: “This is not a secondment. This is somebody stepping down and on that basis he should be paid by TCD.”

At a meeting of the Oireachtas health committee on Wednesday, the department’s secretary general Robert Watt confirmed the permanent post of chief medical officer would be advertised with Dr Holohan taking up his new role in July.

The committee heard that Dr Holohan would have a “contract of indefinite duration” at Trinity but was given no further detail of what that meant.

Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway said the department paying Dr Holohan’s salary at the university indefinitely was “inappropriate”.

Highly unusual

Mr Donnelly argued on Wednesday that secondment in the public service was commonplace and Dr Holohan’s case was no different. However, several sources told The Irish Times that it is highly unusual for the organisation to which the person is seconded not to pay their salary, or a portion of it.

In an interview with RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Wednesday, Mr Donnelly argued Dr Holohan was “not getting paid any more money” and that even if Trinity was to pay him, it was still “all public money”.

Mr Donnelly said he did not know if others were working in universities and having their salaries paid by the department, but that he supported Dr Holohan’s move which was “really positive”.

The Taoiseach said on Tuesday he was “not familiar” with the arrangements around Dr Holohan’s move to Trinity, but said it was his understanding the Health Research Board was involved.

However, the Health Research Board clarified on Thursday that it played no role in Dr Holohan’s appointment, or his salary.

It said it runs occasional open and competitive calls to allow higher-education institutions nominate people for research leader awards. It is advertised and run in an open competition, using an international adjudication panel.

“Dr Tony Holohan’s secondment was not part of one of these processes,” it said.