Elaine Loughlin: In Deirdre Gillane, Watt chose the wrong adviser to cross

A key strategist in Micheál Martin’s inner circle and rarely in the headlines, Deirdre Gillane's rebuke of Robert Watt put her firmly in the spotlight

Deirdre Gillane was described as 'a very affable woman but when it comes to business, she understands politics very well and does not mince her words.'

Senior civil servants and government advisers usually prefer to remain in the background, wielding quiet, anonymous authority. Not this week.

Deirdre Gillane’s strident — and now publicly available — rebuke of Robert Watt’s version of events around Dr Tony Holohan’s botched secondment was box office for political fans.

Her cutting account also goes a long way in explaining how Micheál Martin has remained at the helm of Fianna Fáil for so long.

Knowing her comments would likely be included in an independent report into the then chief medical officer’s abandoned secondment, which Watt had a key role in negotiating, Gillane claimed that details provided by the highest-paid civil servant in the country were “wholly without foundation” and “fatuous”.

“I want to be absolutely clear. The assertions made by the secretary general of the Department of Health as outlined in your email are, in terms, grossly inaccurate and unwarranted,” she told the report’s author, Maura Quinn.

Softly spoken Gillane has been a key strategist in Martin’s inner circle, having been brought in as an adviser in 2001 when he was minister for health.

A former union official with the Irish Nurses Organisation, Gillane has rarely gained media attention over her two-decade long career with Martin.

But her comments show a fearlessness and a ruthless streak, which clearly irked one of the country’s most notorious civil servants

As one senior Fianna Fáil put it this week: “I know she might be marmite. But I have huge admiration for her, I just think she’s shit hot at what she does, I really do.”

Others say Watt should have known what he would come up against when he claimed “the facts indicate” that Gillane as the then chief of staff in the Department of An Taoiseach was informed of the critical details regarding the proposed secondment and the proposal to increase research funding.

“Arrogantly dismissive”, was how John McGuinness described Watt at the end of a two-and-a-half-hour Finance Committee meeting this week, as the atmosphere went from tense to heated when politicians questioned him on his role in Dr Holohan’s appointment.

A clearly frustrated McGuinness told Watt that he had set a “very bad example” for more junior officials who might aspire to become a secretary general one day.

“Your answers fall way short of the standard that I would expect of a senior civil servant, and I am sorry to have to say that,” the committee chair said.

Watt, who at times appeared disinterested as McGuinness summarised his contributions, retorted: “I think now, chair, you are not in a position to personally criticise me ... I’m not sure it’s appropriate for the chair to comment like that.”

Reputation

Of course, this is not the first time McGuinness, or indeed other politicians, have clashed with Watt.

He has gained quite a reputation since he first came to prominence by taking over as the top civil servant in the Department of Public Expenditure in 2011.

Prominent isn’t usually a word used to describe senior civil servants who are more inclined to run their departments as far away from the headlines as possible.

A highly controversial and combative figure, his shouting matches across department corridors with then public expenditure minister Brendan Howlin have become legendary around Leinster House.

Back in 2019, he was forced to apologise to a Dáil committee after being heard by the Irish Examiner telling officials before a crunch meeting on children’s hospital costs that its chair “has to control the mob”.

Needless to say, committee members did not take kindly to being referred to as a mob.

Committee appearance

There have been numerous instances where he has resisted appearing before committees.

He finally agreed to take questions on the Dr Holohan issue this week after the Finance Committee, in a very unusual move, sought compellability. Watt failed to produce an opening statement to the committee in advance.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Watt dismissed much of the findings of the independent report compiled by Ms Quinn who Marc MacSharry described as having a “global reputation in governance”.

Robert Watt has said he rejects 'most of the findings' of the independent report into the proposed secondment of former Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan to Trinity College Dublin.

“I’m very happy that the secondment process was appropriate,” he told the committee, strongly rejecting the report which found that the proposed funding model was “unusual and outside regular processes,” and concluded that Dr Holohan should not have been personally involved in the negotiations.

“I reject most of the findings of the report,” he said.

Time and time again he intervened and spoke over politicians who became exasperated with an approach that shifted from evasive to belligerent and back again.

At one point he slapped down Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, telling the TD: “It’s not your job to summarise what I just said.”

Asked if he would approach the controversial appointment in the same way again, Watt suggested that hindsight is great.

“What do they call them? Monday-morning quarterbacks, I think is the expression in America they use, there’s a lot of that around of course,” Watt added.

And so, his admission that he now accepts the account provided by Gillane was an out-of-character concession for a man who refused to accept almost everything else.

'You just don’t mess with Deirdre Gillane'

One Fianna Fáil senator said he was glad Watt had accepted Gillane’s bona fides on the matter.

“You just don’t mess with Deirdre Gillane, so I just thought ‘God he’s picking a fight with the wrong woman’.”

Those in the Fianna Fáil party have not been surprised by the tone of Gillane’s remarks and cite her as a driving force behind Martin.

“If Deirdre had to give you a kick in the bollocks it doesn’t matter how close you might be to her on a personal level, she’d give you a kick in the bollocks. But it wouldn’t be for the sake of it, it would be because you deserved it,” said one long-serving member of the party.

“She’s a very affable woman but when it comes to business, she understands politics very well and does not mince her words.”

Thorough, direct, and immensely hard-working are some of the words that crop up in relation to Gillane.

The Cork native is rarely, if ever, seen socialising in the Dáil bar and keeps her social circle removed from those in Leinster House.

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Her loyalty to Martin is also striking.

Gillane is part of a very small group who are not only privy to what Martin is thinking but are instrumental in shaping and directing his political agenda.

TDs and senators often gripe that Martin cuts them out in favour of his unelected officials.

Major party and political decisions are arrived at in consultation with Gillane and Pat McParland, who previously worked as the party’s director of communications.

Peter MacDonagh, nicknamed the ‘Child of Prague’ because he is based in the Czech capital, is also a close confidant.

MacDonagh has been described as having a “foreign Svengali influence” on Martin. He is rarely seen, even by some of the longest-serving members of the party.

But Gillane is always a quiet presence by Martin’s side.

Asked about Gillane and her relationship with Martin, one senior TD said: “She would determine what journey he takes or where he turns. She may find it hard sometimes, but she would get him on the right track. He would be lost without her.”