Opposition TDs criticise role of civil servants in Holohan row 

Micheál Martin said the way the secondment of former CMO Tony Holohan to Triny College unfolded was 'deeply regrettable'. File picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews

The abandoned plan to move Tony Holohan to Trinity College Dublin shows that civil servants and not ministers run the country, the opposition has said.

Sinn Féin's health spokesperson David Cullinane said Dr Holohan's decision to retire was a loss to the public system, but that the circumstances that led to his resignation were "entirely the making of very senior civil servants".

Mr Cullinane, a Waterford TD, said the Minister for Health has serious questions to answer, adding that he believes senior civil servants are "running rings" around Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

"We have, in my view, not the minister in charge. We have senior officials in the HSE and the department running the show, and that's not the way it should be," he told RTE Radio.

Mr Cullinane said that there had to be fair procedures around public appointments and issues in relation to the public pay of senior officials.

Former director general of the HSE, Tony O'Brien, told This Week on RTÉ that Tony Holohan had no choice after the Taoiseach's comments on Friday. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Fianna Fáil TD and member of the Oireachtas health committee John Lahart accepted that the perception of the process by which Dr Holohan was appointed to the job was flawed and said the Government's handling of the issue was "ham-fisted".

Meanwhile, Tony O'Brien, the former director general of the HSE said Dr Holohan's decision to retire and not take up the role is disappointing.

He said, however, that the Taoiseach's comments on Friday left him with no other option.

Mr O’Brien told This Week on RTÉ that Dr Holohan's particular skill set and experience means he is effectively irreplaceable in the process, adding that he is one of a very small number of people in the department who is a civil servant but also a trained medic.

 The Government was “blindsided” by the now aborted Tony Holohan secondment, the man responsible for it is likely to escape any sanction, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.

Speaking to reporters at Arbour Hill, Mr Martin said he retains confidence in the Secretary General at the Department of Health Robert Watt, despite his failure to tell his political masters of the plan to second the outgoing Chief Medical Officer to Trinity College Dublin.

Mr Martin described the episode as “deeply regrettable” and that it “could have been handled better.

“We're not we're not happy in the sense that there was a lot of surprise when in the manner in which it is emerged,” he said.

Asked with there be any consequences for Mr Watt, Mr Martin said he would “prefer to focus on the lessons that need to be learned and in resetting how these issues should handled. Let's see the report tomorrow and let's take in terms of the lessons to be learned in,” he said: 

This is a very regrettable issue where it has unfolded and transpired could have been done better lessons have to be learned from it,.

“I think fundamentally lessons have to be learned here. But I think transparency from the outset would have been appropriate, and particularly in relation to the all of the aspects of this. I think it's regrettable, given the fact that Tony Tony has been very strong role in bringing us through the pandemic,” the Taoiseach said.

Mr Martin said there will be a comprehensive summary report tomorrow from the Secretary General in health to the Minister for Health.

“I was very clear that where anything that involves the spending of public money, or any substantive multiannual program of research is a policy issue, that does require approval by government,” he made clear.