Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that it does not matter that his Secretary Robert Watt does not accept the findings of a report in the abandoned secondment of Dr Tony Holohan to Trinity.
The Fianna Fáil TD also stressed that civil servants are not “sanctioned on tone” following criticism over the manner in which Mr Watt spoke to politicians at the Oireachtas Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The Department of Health Sec Gen said that he did not accept the finding of Maura Quinn’s report, which stated that Dr Holohan should not have been involved in negotiating his own secondment. It also found that Mr Watt “bypassed all of the accepted protocols for research funding” by not receiving sanction from his Minister.
