Second candidate rejects job as HSE chief

Catherine Shanahan and Evelyn Ring

Yesterday Professor Brendan Drumm announced he would not be taking on the highest-paid position in the public service, worth up to half a million a year Prof Drumm said he had made clear he wanted to return to his consultant/teaching post as Professor of Paediatrics at University College Dublin, on an annual salary of E194,000, when his five-year stint (with an option of extending it to eight) with the HSE expired.

Prof Drumm said the HSE had not contacted UCD to inquire about the possibility of his return.