Watt rejects 'most of' report's findings on former CMO Holohan's secondment 

Mr Watt also told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly was not  informed of key details relating to the secondment because his machine was hacked

Mr Watt said “I reject most of the findings”. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Robert Watt has said he rejects “most of the findings” of the independent report into the proposed secondment of former Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Tony Holohan to Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

Mr Watt also told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly was not initially informed of key details relating to the controversial secondment because his machine was hacked.

The top civil servant said he had tried to send Mr Donnelly a note about €20m in public money, that would be spent over 10 years, which was going to be used for the secondment.

However, he was unable to send the note because the minister’s computer had been hacked while he was in the US.

“There was a note that we intended to share with the minister, but unfortunately he was away and his system was corrupted, and then it slipped our minds,” said Mr Watt.

He was adamant the minister was aware of all the details of the planned secondment by the time the agreement was being finalised.

During the process, Mr Holohan was in contact with TCD through his personal email arranging some of the details on his own behalf. Mr Holohan eventually decided not to pursue the appointment.

The author of the independent report into the secondment, Maura Quinn, said in it that no individual should be personally and exclusively involved in any other negotiations with third parties which involves the disbursement of State funds in which they have a potential personal interest.

Mr Watt said he disagreed with this finding, and “I reject most of the findings”.

The report said the proposed research funding of €2m per year for around a decade was not discussed with the Health Research Board, the body used for the disbursal of these funds, at any point, by the former CMO, the secretary general, or the Department of Health.

“There is no detail available as to how the quantum of €2m was determined, in terms of research scope nor costings,” said Ms Quinn in her report.

Ms Quinn, therefore, said the proposed funding mechanism and the lack of governance around it did not meet “accepted norms of scrutiny, transparency, and accountability”.

Mr Watt also disagreed with this.

He was also asked about a conflict in evidence in the report where Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s chief of staff, Deirdre Gillane, strongly disputed his account that she knew details of the proposed secondment. He said he accepted Ms Gillane’s version of events that she was not aware.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has admitted the proposed secondment was “mishandled”.

He said “sometimes people can have a different understanding or a different recollection of what happened”.

“In terms of the report, this is a secondment that ultimately did not happen,” he said. “It is clear that it was mishandled, but ultimately, it’s a secondment that didn’t go through and I think we need to put in place proper procedures around secondments so that we don’t have a repeat of this.

“The report didn’t make any findings against any individual and did find that every individual acted in good faith, and sometimes people can have a different understanding or a different recollection of what happened.”