Report on Holohan TCD post plan sent to parties named in it

A report into the abandoned plan to appoint former chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan to an academic position has been sent to parties named in it for review following legal advice.

A spokesman for Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, who received the report in July, said he would “publish the report as soon as he can”.

“In accordance with legal advice, any individuals named in the report are entitled to due process and fair procedures,” the spokesman said. “As this process is still ongoing, the Minister is not in a position to comment until the process is complete.”

Mr Donnelly is facing calls from the Opposition to publish the report as soon as possible, as well as to clarify why the report’s author was asked to consider other matters after it had been submitted initially.

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Maura Quinn, the former head of the Institute of Directors, told The Irish Times on Sunday that she had submitted her report on June 14th. She was contacted by Mr Donnelly on July 1st and asked to consider other matters. She submitted a final report on July 27th, she said.

“The Minister needs to publish the report,” Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane said on Monday. “These are serious matters, in the interest of transparency the report should be published, it’s been on the Minister’s desk for weeks at this stage,” he said, adding that Mr Donnelly should explain why he asked for the report to be expanded in July.

Mr Cullinane also criticised the terms of reference for the review, which he said were not sufficiently focused on the process of Dr Holohan’s proposed appointment and were unduly concerned with “learnings” from the controversy.

A weekend report in the Sunday Business Post quoted a Department of Health spokesman saying the review was ongoing. A spokeswoman for the Minister told The Irish Times on Sunday that the newspaper was told the “process” was continuing, but not that the review had been completed and submitted to the Minister.

The proposed appointment of Dr Holohan, who led Ireland’s public health response during the pandemic and became a household name, to a new professorship in TCD grew into a political controversy earlier this year.

The move was championed by the secretary-general of the Department of Health, Robert Watt, who proposed that the department should continue to pay Dr Holohan’s salary. The department also committed to a €2 million-a-year grant for public health research in TCD for the next 10 years of Dr Holohan’s secondment.

There was significant unease throughout Government when the proposal came to light, as there had been no political or ministerial approval for the move.