Chief Medical Officer to leave role just over a year after her appointment

Prof Breda Smyth was officially appointed to the role on October 5, 2022 having served as interim CMO after Dr Tony Holohan left the post earlier that year. Picture: Maxwells 

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at the Department of Health is due to leave the role just over a year after her appointment to the position.

It’s understood Professor Breda Smyth informed Health Minister Stephen Donnelly in recent days that she is resigning from her role.

Sources have said Prof Smyth is to take up an academic professorship in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Her decision to resign comes after just 18 months in the role. Sources have said Prof Smyth is well-liked and those who work closely with her have been left disappointed at the news. 

Her departure has come as a surprise within Government as it was expected Ms Smyth would be in the post long-term. It has led to sources questioning what may have led to her decision to leave the post after just 18 months.

The CMO is paid €202,000 a year and reports directly to Robert Watt, the department’s secretary general.

Prof Smyth was officially appointed to the role in October, 2022 having served as interim CMO after Dr Tony Holohan left the post earlier that year after 14 years as CMO.

She joined the Department of Health on a three-year secondment from her position at the HSE where she had worked as Prof for Public Health Medicine at the University of Galway and Consultant in Public Health in HSE West.

She has specialised in public health for the last 16 years and has extensive clinical experience.

The Department of Health has been contacted for comment but did not respond.

During the covid-19 pandemic, Prof Smyth sat on the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) and the expert advisory group that examined the use of rapid antigen tests.

Ms Smyth was also a founding member of the covid-19 epidemiology modelling advisory group that advised NPHET on the trajectory of the virus.

At the time of her appointment, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said her “considerable experience, excellent leadership ability and extensive public health skill set” would be “a valuable asset” to the department.

Prof Smyth had said as CMO at the department she would be focusing on implementing cross-Government initiatives like Healthy Ireland and Sláintecare.

Sources have said the department has witnessed a number of senior staff members leave their roles following the covid pandemic.

Former Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn, one of the health officials who steered Ireland through the pandemic, resigned in 2022 to work in the private sector.

Prof Smyth succeeded Dr Holohan in 2022 when he announced he was stepping down to take on a new role as Professor of Public Health Strategy and Leadership at Trinity College Dublin. However, controversy developed when it emerged that it was an open-ended secondment - which the Department of Health would spend €2m a year on until Dr Holohan’s retirement. Dr Holohan later announced that he was not proceeding with the secondment.