Holohan review to be completed by June 

Review into controversial secondment of chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan to a post in Trinity College to be made public, health minister says

Questions were raised around the controversial secondment after a memo compiled by the secretary-general of the Department of Health, Robert Watt, revealed Dr Holohan had entered into discussions with university leaders in February, and that the role would be funded by the Department of Health. File picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

An independent expert is to head up an external review of issues surrounding the abandoned secondment of chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan to a professorship role in Trinity College. 

Maura Quinn, the outgoing chief executive of the Institute of Directors, is to lead the review which was initiated by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly. It is expected to be completed in June and the minister says he intends to publish its findings.

Questions were raised around the controversial secondment after a memo compiled by the secretary-general of the Department of Health, Robert Watt, revealed Dr Holohan had entered into discussions with university leaders in February, and that the role would be funded by the Department of Health.

A letter of intent from Mr Watt to the provost of TCD, Professor Linda Doyle, sent on March 16, some nine days before Dr Holohan's departure was announced, shows that Mr Watt offered the college a ringfenced funding agreement for the establishment of the professor of public health role.

Mr Watt's letter states that the €2m yearly would come from the Health Research Board, a body under the Department of Health. 

Amid ongoing criticism of the nature of the secondment, Dr Holohan announced he would not be taking up the position of professor of public health strategy and leadership and would retire from the Department of Health in the summer.

Senior Government sources have made clear that existing rules make no provision for such a secondment from the civil service to the wider public service. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government had been “blindsided" by the now-abandoned secondment.

The Taoiseach has said he was unaware that Trinity was offered a €2m ringfenced funding arrangement. Asked if he had confidence in Mr Watt, the Taoiseach said: “He is a capable public servant — but there are procedures.” 

'Deeply regrettable'

Mr Martin described the manner of Dr Holohan’s secondment as “deeply regrettable” and said it “could have been handled better”.

“We’re not happy in the sense that there was a lot of surprise in the manner in which it emerged,” Mr Martin said.

Last week, Mr Donnelly announced he was initiating an external review in relation to the process of the proposed secondment of the CMO and research proposal, “to examine learnings and recommendations that could inform future such initiatives”, he said.

“The review will be carried out by Maura Quinn, the outgoing chief executive of the Institute of Directors. Ms  Quinn has offered to carry out this review pro bono and will report back to me in June. It is my intention to publish the report following its consideration,” a statement from Mr Donnelly said on Wednesday.

The terms of reference for the external review are:

• Determine learnings from the process related to the proposed secondment of the chief medical officer and associated research proposal;
• Make recommendations that could inform future such initiatives. 

Ms Quinn is an experienced Chartered Director with over 14 years board experience across a variety of sectors.

She is the current CEO of the Institute of Directors in Ireland (to June 2022), she is also an independent non-executive director of Rugby Players Ireland and was a board member of the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital until 2020.