Government ministers 'very annoyed' at handling of Holohan secondment

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien criticised the way the proposed secondment of Tony Holohan to TCD was handled

Speaking of the secondment debacle, Mr O'Brien said: 'I believe it's a loss to academia and to our students that Professor Holohan [above] is not in a position to take up that role'. File picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews

Many within the Government are “very annoyed” at the botched Tony Holohan secondment issue and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly should not have been blindsided, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said.

Mr O’Brien said that while he wants to await the outcome of the independent inquiry established by Mr Donnelly, he voiced his annoyance at the controversy involving the offer of €2m in research funding a year to Trinity College Dublin by Mr Donnelly’s top official, Robert Watt, without political approval.

“It shouldn't have happened," he said. 

Frankly, it should not have happened. The minister should have been made aware of the situation.

Mr O’Brien, who reportedly had a verbal disagreement with Mr Watt in a public house in recent weeks, gave voice to the high level of frustration building within government over how this issue was handled.

“It is an issue that has taken up a lot of airtime and also a lot of commentary, and in fairness and a lot of people are very annoyed about it,” he said.

“And so it's a matter that shouldn't have happened in that way. But as a Government minister, I want to let the process that has been put in place by Minister Donnelly, let that happen and see what comes out of the report."

Mr Watt has been criticised by the Oireachtas finance committee for failing to properly engage with its inquiries into this matter.

Mr O’Brien said the right thing to do is to wait for the independent review as to where the process fell down and who was responsible: 

But I've been very clear before is that I believe that transparency around this issue was really important for public confidence. 

Mr O’Brien said the doomed process and the fact that Dr Holohan will not be taking up the post represents a loss to academia, describing the outcome as a “terrible shame”.

“It's a terrible shame as well for the chief medical officer who has done such excellent work that this has happened, and I believe it's a loss to academia and to our students that Professor Holohan is not in a position to take up that role,” he said.