Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has appointed an external expert to conduct an independent review into the now abandoned secondment of Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan to a professorship at Trinity College Dublin.
The review will be undertaken by Maura Quinn, the outgoing chief executive of the Institute of Directors, and is expected to be completed by June.
Minister Donnelly said: “Ms. Quinn has offered to carry out this review Pro Bono and will report back to me in June.
“It is my intention to publish the report following its consideration.”
Under the Terms of Reference, the review will determine learnings from the process related to the proposed secondment of the CMO and the associated research proposal.
And it will also make recommendations that could inform future such initiatives.
The controversy into the proposed secondment has resulted in Dr Holohan stating he will no longer take up the role at Trinity College.
A briefing document on the matter by Secretary General at the Department of Health Robert Watt, was published and showed that Dr Holohan’s planned move to Trinity College would cost €2 million a year and €20m if Dr Holohan remained in the post for ten years.
In his briefing note, Mr Watt said it was envisaged Dr Holohan’s salary could be administered by the Health Research Board (HRB) via the Department of Health.
However, in a statement, the HRB noted it had been cited in the briefing paper as “the potential conduit for funding” and said it wished to clarify that it was “not involved in any discussion around this post and has received no correspondence from either the Department of Health or Trinity College in relation to funding the CMO secondment.”
The Oireachtas Committee on Finance is preparing to hold a hearing on the matter and has sought all documents from the Department in advance of the hearing.
