Council chief set to have role rubber-stamped

The chief executive designate of Cork City Council is poised to have her appointment rubber-stamped on Monday.

The council’s party leaders met the recommended candidate, former senior HSE official Ann Doherty, for an informal briefing last night.

The meeting, sought two weeks ago, now paves the way for her appointment as the council’s first CEO to be discussed and signed off at Monday’s council meeting — the last before an eight-week summer break.

Last night’s meeting was arranged after the unprecedented decision by councillors at their last council meeting on June 23 to unanimously agree to defer the rubber-stamping of Ms Doherty’s appointment following her recommendation for the position by the Public Appointments Service.

They had expressed concerns about her lack of local authority experience and sought a meeting with her to explore her vision for the city.

Ms Doherty was happy to meet councillors but it is understood city officials were furious and did not think that such a meeting should be facilitated.

Lord Mayor Cllr Mary Shields finally agreed to arrange the meeting this week when councillors indicated they were happy for party whips only to meet Ms Doherty. The meeting took place in a city centre hotel last night.

Ms Doherty’s first job was as a general nurse at the former Cork Regional Hospital.

In the late 1980s, she emigrated to London where she worked in a variety of clinical management and general manager roles at Kings College Hospital.

The married mother of two, who lives in Riverstick, returned to Ireland in 1997 to work with the then Southern Health Board as part of a senior management team which focused on strategy and planning.

In 2004, she was appointed general manager of the Cork University Hospital Group.

Later that year, she was appointed as a national director of the HSE and later worked on the National Cancer Control Programme, supporting two cancer centres in the south and developing Radiation Oncology for Ireland.

Two years ago, she was appointed CEO of the University of Limerick Hospitals Group.