Irish Examiner view: Holohan fiasco was a mess from beginning to end

Former CMO's withdrawal sets the clock back — there is a role to be filled but the person apparently most qualified to fill it is now out of the frame

Dr Tony Holohan: Picture: Julien Behal/PA

There’s a memorable scene in the movie No Country For Old Men where the grizzled law enforcer played by Tommy Lee Jones is asked by an enthusiastic young deputy: “It’s a mess, ain’t it sheriff?” He answers wearily: “If it ain’t, it’ll do ’til the mess gets here.”

Cormac McCarthy might have written those lines for the imbroglio that is the on, and now off, secondment of Dr Tony Holohan as professor of public health leadership and strategy at Trinity College, Dublin. The role that was created solely for Dr Holohan, who is standing down as the country’s chief medical officer after more than two gruelling years leading the fight against the pandemic and grappling with unpopular decisions affecting the personal freedoms of everyone.