Taoiseach Micheál Martin has pointed the finger of blame at senior Department of Health officials for the botched appointment of Dr Tony Holohan to a €187,000 a year Trinity professorship, which he has now turned down.
The Chief Medical Officer was at the centre of a political storm all week, not of his making, when it emerged he was being seconded to Trinity College on the taxpayers’ tab.
The exact details of the job switch were not known by the Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly.
A spokesman for his department said on Thursday that “all arrangements” were looked after by the €300,000 a year Department of Health Secretary General, Robert Watt.
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Dr Holohan resigned on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to reporters at the annual Fianna Fáil Easter Rising commemoration at Arbour Hill on Sunday afternoon, Mr Martin said: “Lessons have to be learned here, but I think transparency from the outset would have been appropriate and in particular in relation to all of the aspects of this.
“I think that it is regrettable, given the fact that Tony (Holohan) has played such a very strong role in terms of bringing us through the pandemic, but there has to be a process too and I think there has to be full transparency in relation to all of these issues.
The Taoiseach added: “There will be a comprehensive summary and report tomorrow from the Secretary General of Health to the Minister for Health, but I think certainly lessons have to be learned.
“I was very clear that anything that involves the spending of public money, or any substantive multi-annual programme of research is a policy issue that does require approval by Government.”
The Taoiseach said he was in no doubt that Dr Holohan’s new role was going to be funded by the taxpayer.
“It’s clear to me that what was envisaged was multi-annual funding from the Department of Health, that was to be administered by the Health Research Board (HRB).”
Mr Martin said the creation of the new job would have been a good idea.
He said: “I think the research programme itself and building up our capacity in terms of research in terms of preparation for future pandemics is a good idea and a good concept.
“But again, it’s one that, perhaps early on if there’d been a broader deliberation on it and things were worked through, it may have worked out differently.”
The opposition last night were critical of the overall “hamfisted” handling of the appointment.
Sinn Féin health spokesman, David Cullinane, said: “this was a mess entirely of the department’s making, entirely of the making of very serious civil servants within the department, but also of the Minister for Health.”
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