Tony Holohan job ‘paused’ until report is received

The Taoiseach has said the planned academic role for Dr Tony Holohan should be paused and “reassessed”.

Micheal Martin said the appointment of the chief medical officer should be paused until he receives a report from the Minister of Health Stephen Donnelly on Monday.

It emerged earlier this week that Dr Holohan was being seconded to an academic post at Trinity College Dublin on his existing salary of 187,000 euro, which the Department of Health would fund.

The Government has been dogged in recent days by questions including why the Department of Health is funding the secondment for Dr Holohan and who approved it.

It was confirmed last month that he would stand down as chief medical officer and would take up the position of Professor of Public Health Strategy and Leadership.

However, Mr Martin has now said the move will be paused.

Speaking in Helsinki, in Finland, Mr Martin said: “There has to be transparency, there has to be good process and procedure. I don’t see this as just a human resource issue, or a personnel issue in its own right, which I can understand.

“But there was a research perspective to this. There’s a more medium-term perspective to this and in my view, it should be paused, there should be a reassessment as to how the objectives that are behind this can be realised in a better and more transparent way.”

John McGuinness, chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance Public Expenditure and Reform, said that a number of questions remain about his secondment.

He said the committee has “serious concerns” over the process of the appointment and that Mr Donnelly was not told.

“There is the issue of the pay scale in the college, which is 150,000 euro per professor and the department will now be paying Dr Holohan 187,000 euro,” Mr McGuiness told RTE Morning Ireland.

“That raises questions about public service policy.”

On Thursday, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said the full details of the role should have been made public earlier.