Irish Examiner View: Pastures new, but same grass for Tony Holohan

For many, this latest episode again demonstrates the disconnect between those in the corridors of power and everyday citizens who are struggling to make ends meet.

Outgoing Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan will retain his annual salary of €187,000 while on secondment at Trinity College. Picture: Gareth Chaney /Collins Photos

There is something incongruous about Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s warnings of economic uncertainty for the rest of the year and news that the chief medical officer is to take up a new role in Trinity College, retaining his current annual salary of €187,000 while the Department of Health hires a replacement.

Tony Holohan is not, as first reported, leaving the department but will in fact be on secondment to take up the new role of professor of public health strategy and leadership at Trinity College. However, we are told he will not be returning to the role of CMO.

What started as a story of a much-respected senior civil servant moving on to pastures new has morphed into a tale of different fields but the same grass in a land far, far away from the reality of most citizens.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly tried to play down the arrangement yesterday which will see the department continue to pay Mr Holohan’s salary indefinitely. It’s “all public money”, said Mr Donnelly, who seemed surprised by all the fuss, at what he described as a win-win for everyone.

Meanwhile, hard-pressed householders are taking to social media to post up copies of their soaring energy bills, expressing fears about the rise in the cost of living.

As discomfort grows in political circles as to who exactly signed off on Dr Holohan’s secondment, Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath acknowledged the matter could have been handled better. 

He said normally the organisation that derives the benefit pays the salary, and he is looking to clarify the matter. 

But that’s of little comfort to people who are watching this unfold while they begin to feel the financial pinch. 

For many, this latest episode again demonstrates the disconnect between how decisions on large salaries are taken in the corridors of power and the painful decisions to stretch incomes that are being made at kitchen tables across the country.