'Very weak': Fianna Fáil MEP hits out Donnelly’s review of Tony Holohan secondment
Billy Kelleher has criticised his own Health Minister’s review into the botched Tony Holohan secondment. File picture: Collins
A leading Fianna Fáil MEP has criticised his own Health Minister Stephen Donnelly’s review into the botched Tony Holohan secondment, saying it is “very weak”.
Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher accused Mr Donnelly of writing terms of reference which seek to “move the story on” as quickly as possible, rather than finding out what happened.
Mr Kelleher said that he has significant concerns about the recently published terms of reference for the external review into the proposed appointment of Dr Tony Holohan to a seconded position in Trinity College Dublin on a proposed salary of €187,000 a year, his existing salary.
On foot of more than 10 days of controversy, Dr Holohan abandoned his plans to take up the role, but Mr Donnelly and his department remain in the firing line.
“I have to be honest and state quite clearly that I believe that the Terms of Reference are very weak and will not enable the review to examine the substantive questions that must be answered about the circumstances surrounding the proposed secondment,” he said.
Mr Kelleher, a former junior minister under Brian Cowen said the terms of reference fail to examine how it came to pass that the Secretary General of the Department unilaterally decided to allocate €2 million of taxpayers’ money to a new role.
“It also makes no reference to examining how it was decided that TCD would be the host body for such a secondment,” he said.
“Let there be no doubt - many other institutions with strong public health credentials would have been very interested in the project. This external review must find out why other institutions were not considered, and if so, why not,” he said.
Mr Kelleher’s comments will heap further pressure on Mr Donnelly and his Secretary General Robert Watt given the controversy it has stirred up.
“These are the substantive issues at hand. While of course learning from mistakes is always a worthwhile endeavour, there must be an acceptance that a serious mistake took place in the first instance,” he said.
“The terms have been written, I believe, in such a way as to move the story on from looking at what actually happened as quickly as possible,” he said.
No one in the civil service has put their hands up and said that the proposed appointment should not have been considered in the way it was set up.
"Until that happens, and until we get to the bottom of the how and the why of this debacle, no real learning can take place," he concluded.
This week, Mr Donnelly appointed Maura Quinn to conduct the review on a pro bono basis and she is expected to report back to him by the end of June.
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