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? 

Outgoing Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan. LeahFarrell / Rollingnews.ie LeahFarrell / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

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.