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DR TONY HOLOHAN’S move to Trinity College looks set to be paused, for now at least.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments in Helsinki today have brought the controversy of Holohan’s appointment to a different level, one at which a review is to be completed before anything further happens.
The confusion over the role began when it was announced at the end of March that Holohan was to step down from his role as Chief Medical Officer, a position he has held for 14 years.
The position of CMO is essentially the most-senior medical role in the Department of Health and Holohan became a household name in that capacity during the Covid-19 emergency.
It’s therefore not surprising that the role Holohan is to move to in Trinity is a newly created position of Professor of Public Health Strategy and Leadership.
Indeed, the university has said that it had “Dr Holohan in mind” when the position was created.
What was not revealed in the initial trumpeting of Holohan’s move away from the CMO job was that the Department of Health was to continue to pay his salary.
Recent reports show the CMO’s salary is around €187,000 per year.
In a statement this week, the Department said that Holohan’s new role was an “open-ended secondment” that was “in the public interest” because of the skills he could bring to the third-level sector.
The description of the role led to some puzzled queries from commentators who pointed out that secondments more usually involve a temporary transfer of an employee to another organisation.
Indeed, a guide for secondments in the Civil Service published by the government repeatedly describes them as “temporary.
However, in a statement to the Oireachtas Health Committee yesterday Dr Holohan said he has agreed to “relinquish” his role as CMO and would not be returning to it “at any point in the future”.
Furthermore, Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath was among those who said the “open-ended nature” of Holohan’s secondment was “unusual”.
He added: “It would normally be the case that the host body that was receiving the services of a person who was seconded would pay the salary.”
Who knew what and when?
Holohan’s move to Trinity has become political over the question of who knew the details of his new position and the fact that the Department would be funding it.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said on Wednesday that Holohan’s move to Trinity was a “really positive move” and that the salary is “all public money” regardless of who pays for it.
His statement has led to some questions over whether this was a fair description. Trinity’s most recent accounts show that the institution had an income of €350 million for the year, with just over €50 million of that coming in the form of State grants.
The largest proportion of income came from academic fees (€164 million) and research grants and other contracts (€99 million).
Donnelly has also said he did not sign off on the details of Holohan’s role and was only made aware of it about two weeks ago. He defended secondments between health and academia as “very regular and normal and healthy things”.
Sinn Féin has focused on Donnelly’s handling of Holohan’s move, with David Cullinane TD arguing that it was not enough for Donnelly to say he was not aware of the details.
It is clear that the Minister for Health failed to ensure proper transparency in the appointment of Tony Holohan to a role in Trinity. While claiming to have been kept in the dark he nonetheless failed to challenge the process. Others in Gov forced to press the pause button.
— David Cullinane T.D. (@davidcullinane) April 8, 2022
The role of Secretary General of the Department of Health Robert Watt has also become a central question hanging over the process.
While Donnelly may not have been aware of the plans for Holohan’s move, Watt had approved it.
The Secretary General is the most-senior civil servant in each government department but some TDs have questioned whether Cabinet should have approved Holohan’s move if the Department of Health was to fund it.
Total Waffle & Nonsense by Min Donnelly on Holohan Salary on Morning Ireland-‘Tony wanted a new challenge’😳😳.Cabinet now merely non exec group to rubber stamp the ‘choices’of the civil service elite where process and remuneration at best unorthodox at worst corrupt.
— Marc MacSharryTD (@MarcMacsharryTD) April 6, 2022
Speaking today, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said it was right and proper for Watt to approve the move as it was a personnel matter and not a political one.
There’s actually a very clear division of responsibility in government departments. So the minister is the political head, is in charge of policy and everything to do with the Dáil and legislation and so on, the Secretary General is actually involved in personnel matters.
“I’ve served in many government departments, I would have never been personally involved in promotions or demotions or transfers, that is very much the role of the SecGen”.
Varadkar, added, however that he backed a review of the appointment process as it was, as he described, “complicated”.
Unlike Varadkar, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that he does not regard the process of Holohan’s move as being a personnel matter alone.
Speaking in Helsinki today, Martin said: “I don’t see this just as a human resource issue or a personnel issue in its own right.”
As he called for a report on the secondment, Martin said that “transparency” was important.
Striking a strident tone on the matter, Martin had told the Dáil this week that had “no hand, act or part” in the arrangement.
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Nothing but a money making scheme, how many accidents have been on this stretch of road? Soon these ‘safety’ cameras will be generating millions, at the expense of the motorist, on every motorway in Ireland.
@Hugh Fogerty: not really. They work really well in the UK. 120kmph is more than enough for anyone to be doing on any road in Ireland. If you know you will end up with points and a fine you just won’t speed! Simple.
@Hugh Fogerty: If people stick to the limit, they won’t get fined. It’s that simple.
@Hugh Fogerty: Very easy way to throw a spanner in the works of this money making scheme.
@Hugh Fogerty: you probably think taxation is theft too, yeah?
@Hugh Fogerty: If you’re thick enough to get penalty points on this stretch of motorway, and it’s very clearly indicated that it’s an average-speed zone, then you deserve to be fined and get penalty points.
@Hugh Fogerty: you don’t have much faith in the intelligence levels of Irish motorists do you? Only way this will generate money is if people speed.
@Hugh Fogerty: why would you need to go any faster than the speed limit? Standard of driving in this country is appalling.
@Edward Reid: vast majority of motorways in Europe are 130km/h… 120 would be low compared
@Hugh Fogerty: only the BMW and Mercedes drivers need worry.
@Hugh Fogerty: Quite a lot actually it is a spot that, quite a lot of rain water stays on because it was built on a bog and has been a lot of accidents with aquaplaning.
@Paul Furey: You can add Audi to that list as well.
@Brendan Nolan: quite a lot is an interesting quantum, not sure if I said not very much would that be as big a number? Without actual figures it’s all conjecture. I’ve never seen an accident on that stretch of road.
@Brendan Nolan: so what you are saying is that stretch of road was badly engineered?
@Saigionsive: taxation is theft when it’s not used for what it was intended.
@Hugh Fogerty: every day there are accidents on these roads. I don’t think speed is the problem though so this figure won’t change.
If compliance was below 70% on a road, would one not think to assess if the 120kph limit was still correct? Maybe that was a sign 130kph or higher would be suited.
* fixed comment – give me edit!
@Richard: I’m not sure. If you give more people end up taking more. They would push to 140/150 if the legal limit was 130. I think the majority of people stick to 120 as it is, only some people think they should be allowed to do as they wish whether or not it puts anyone else in danger or not. I’m all for each to their own but if you cause an accident just because your a macho man showing of or whatever the reason and it killed my family or kids it changes the situation. Slow down, enough families have suffered already.
@Richard: We need to start reducing speed limits.
Fuel consumption at 130 km/HR would be much higher than say 100km/HR..
Electric cars are not suited to high speed as they have huge battery consumption above 100 km/ HR.
@Roger Bond: that should be a person own personal choice and use of money to spend it burning fuel or reducing their electric range. 130km in most European countries as the norm on motorways
@Richard: What’s the point? Driving at 130kph instead of 120 saves you about 24 seconds on a 10km journey. Are we really in that much of a hurry that it’s worth the increased danger and fuel consumption? If we say Limerick to Dublin is about 200km which is a long journey in Ireland, that’s just 8 mins knocked off the entire journey! And that’s assuming a direct motorway with no slow-downs or stops. Each increase above that gives you less and less saving on time.
@Roger Bond: that’s why you should not buy toy cars.
Another nanny state intervention. “if you get to the next camera too quickly you will be flagged on our server.” How about people just follow the safety rules? Seems that the government has taken over the church for “rule following” and being forced into submission.
How about free will, trusting people to do the right thing and give them a ticket if they are caught speeding by a Garda officer?
@Seeking Truth: its more simple than this tbh.
It was simply put in to make money.
None of them gives a flying f… about people.
@John Johnes: Seems to be a way to let people decide if they want to throw money away. The average speed zone will be well flagged on approach.
@Seeking Truth: the issue with that is that not every person speeding is caught by a speed camera van, as there simply aren’t enough of them in place at each location. I think this new system will be a positive one in that it still gives people the option to speed, or not, while guaranteeing that they are caught if they do. Their choice, with consequences for the wrong one.
@Seeking Truth: so if you think this is a nanny state should we drop health and safety in the workplace and let the ordinary worker set the the standards or have none and more deaths. Should we not have regulations for electrical devices and import potential fire hazards from every country in a race to the bottom.
@Seeking Truth: Because, left to their own ‘free will’, a lot of people behave badly.
@Seeking Truth: we’ll they have being allowing people the choice till this morning, the result has been 6 deaths and 54 serious accidents on this particular stretch of road so if given some people haven’t kept to the speed limit they have opted to enforce the speed limit. I don’t understand the issue here, what is the issue with keeping to the 120 limit? Are you so important and or in such a rush that speed limits don’t apply to you?
@Peter: is that in the past week? That’s quite a lot tbf.
Do you have a source for those numbers? We’re they in dry conditions or other conditions?
Personally I think the speed limit should be variable, higher in dry weather and low traffic volumes, lower in bad weather and or high traffic volumes. We have regional roads that used to be safe for 60mph with older less safe cars yet we are now told we have to drive 80kph on them now. Its not about safety it’s about revenue generation.
As cars are being made safer and faster we’re lowering limits, doesn’t make sense, speed limit should be raised to 140 on major motorways in the right hand lane anyway
@pkunzip doom2.zip: at 110 KPH versus 120 KPH I get an extra 10% more kilometers from my tank of diesel. That saves around 11.00 euro per fill.
@pkunzip doom2.zip: if I set my speed limiter to 110 KPH versus 120 KPH I get an extra 10% distance. At current diesel prices that is a saving of €11.00 per fill.
@Rudy de Groot: that’s great for you, well done. When I drive my leaf at 115km I get 250km from a €6.40 charge but when I want to overtake some dckhead in a leaf doing 115km and I’m in my Golf I don’t want to 3 points for driving safely, well within the car and drivers capabilities
@Rudy de Groot: you’d get even more out of your tank if you drove at 80kph
@Anthony Guinnessy: not everyone is concerned about their mileage as you seem to be, if you drive at 80km/h on a motorway you deserve a fine for dangerous driving
Can these camera be used to catch drivers that do not Indicate when overtaking and undertaking ??
@lorcmulv: the answer is in their name!
@lorcmulv: and the roundabouts. In a normal world – whoever does not use their indicators are being fined.
If compliance was below 70% on a road, would one. It think you assess if the 120kph limit was still correct? Maybe that was a sign 130kph or higher would be suited.
just as well my old van wont go over 120km
It’s about time these got rolled out, they need to be put on every stretch of motorway in the country along with variable speed limits. Both have been proven to work for reducing accidents and deaths and traffic flow. If people are driving as per the rules of the road then they have nothing to worry about. For those saying it’s a money making racket I would say they are the very people that are being targeted, not to make money from them but to change the way they drive so they are complying with the posted speed limits.
@Peter: why then are most motorway speed limits higher in Europe? Ever heard of the auto bahn? “Measurements from the German state of Brandenburg in 2006 showed average speeds of 142 km/h (88 mph) on a 6-lane section of autobahn in free-flowing conditions.[3]”
^^ thats a proper road network and just as safe as ours.
I find if I put my speed limiter to 110 KPH I get an extra 10% from my tank of diesel. Considering the cost of fuel it makes sense to reduce speed and save money (and be kinder to the environment too)
@Rudy de Groot: I’d say you’ll find if you put your speed limiter to 80kph you’ll save even more. What’s your point?
Have we invested anything in preventing drivers from travelling in the wrong direction on this motorway?
Ireland catching up with the rest of Europe.
@FliepFlap: Ireland falling further behind the rest of Europe. Safer cars, better roads should mean higher speed limits.
Drove it this morning, main issue was drivers in the overtaking lane doing 120, makes it difficult when you come up behind a slow vehicle and cant pass for the queue of cars cruising in the overtaking lane.
Then once past the second camera off they are like rockets…
If there was a bit of dirt causing the number plate reader to record an 8 or 9 out of a 3 or perhaps a 7 out of a 1 there will be no actual photo of the car showing the make, model and colour of the vehicle so you could not dispute the alleged offence. Normally you are innocent until proven guilty. With this system you are guilty…full stop.
Good grief, the amount of whinging here on this Monday morning. Don’t speed! I do a lot of motorway driving and get over 200km extra on a full tank by driving 95-100kmh on the motorways. It means an extra 10 to 15 mins on a drive from Dublin to Kilkenny but its worth it.
@Paul Furey: no its not, an extra 16 minutes a day each way would be 24hrs extra a year (conservatively). That’s 3 working days you’re giving up per year. Over a lifetime you are losing 147 working days.
@Anthony Guinnessy: what a waste of sums. Leave earlier.
We know where they are hit cruise control at 118 kmph then away u go
@James Johnson: all cars are 4-5km overstated so 124 and you’d be doing 120
Be warned if passing these at night they shine a light across the motorway that’s absolutely blinding
Years and years behind…
It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s too little too late considering these have been around for years in other countries. Motorways are built for speed. How many deaths actually occur on them? Meanwhile the technology exists to measure your speed wherever you go! Most runners have watches that give all sorts of statistics about your run. Put one of these on every car that reports safe driving back to a central server. Compliant people get a discount on their car insurance. The discount is paid for by the reduction in claims this will no doubt bring about. If you frame it as a bonus for being safe rather than a fine for speeding you’ll get much better buy-in.
What about teleportation.?
Why must everyone else slow down just because of a minority of people who can’t drive properly?
I’m sure they’ll be really useful on the M50.
What happens if you drive too slow, surely the concertina effect is equally the same as too fast but slightly more dangerous e.g overtaking.
have your say