Trinity academics say job proposal never mentioned Tony Holohan 

Senior TCD academics have made clear they never approved the appointment of Dr Holohan, but merely the creation of the post. Picture: Sam Boal 

A proposal document presented to board members of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) made no mention of how the proposed secondment of Dr Tony Holohan was to be paid for, nor was his name ever attached to the post.

Senior TCD academics have made clear they never approved the appointment of Dr Holohan, but merely the creation of the post.

They have expressed dismay at the perception that a deal was struck to approve the appointment of the outgoing chief medical officer for a role specifically designed for him.

“We approved the creation of the post but had no information that an open competition would not be used to fill it and that an individual had been selected,” one source said.

Another senior figure cautioned that the college was allowing itself to fall into a position of becoming a "tenure track for bureaucrats at retirement”.

However, further questions have now been raised around the controversial secondment after a memo compiled by the secretary-general of the Department of Health, Robert Watt revealed that Dr Holohan had entered discussions with university leaders in February.

"Over the course of that engagement, and in the interest of furthering the aim of developing the role of the third level sector in this field, the proposal for a professorship emerged," the memo states.

Mr Watt's report also claims it was "never envisaged that this salary would be paid directly on the vote of the Department of Health".

Last Saturday, amid ongoing criticism of the nature of the secondment, Dr Holohan announced he would not be taking up the position.

The two-page TCD proposal, presented by Professor Orla Shiels, the vice-provost and chief and the academic officer, was drafted on March 16, 10 days before the formal announcement of Dr Holohan’s move was made.

The matter only went before Trinity’s board a week later on March 23, where it was approved.

Professor Shiels, in her internal memorandum, sought board approval for the establishment of a “new interdisciplinary chair in the faculties of Arts Humanities, Social Sciences and Health Sciences”.

The document states that she secured assent from faculty deans on March 2 after presenting the proposal to provost Linda Doyle on February 25.

The approval was sought because Professor Shiels argued the nature of recent and ongoing global events including conflict, climate change, migration and the recent pandemic have impacted on “almost every aspect of our lives”.

She argued that interdisciplinary functions are more important than ever due to the complexity and scope of population health challenges in the modern era.

“To realise the vision of public health and fulfil the leadership role necessary for health strategists, the professor of public health strategy and leadership must by definition not be constrained within a speciality or silo but rather as an interdisciplinary common good for the entire field of public health and society,” the document states.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has now ordered an external review of the Holohan secondment to "examine learnings and recommendations that could inform future such initiatives".