Robert Watt to defend his role in now-scrapped Holohan TCD appointment

Senior official Robert Watt is expected to strongly defend his role in the now-abandoned appointment of Dr Tony Holohan to a post in Trinity College Dublin in a report for Government on the process.

Mr Watt, who is the secretary general of the Department of Health, is due to present his report to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly on Monday, following the announcement on Saturday night that Dr Holohan would not take up the appointment, and would retire from the post of chief medical officer in the summer.

Mr Watt is likely to mount a robust defence of the proposed appointment of Dr Holohan to the post in Trinity, despite renewed criticism over the weekend from Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who said that “lessons have to be learned” from the controversy.

Mr Watt’s report is expected to say that Mr Donnelly was aware of the proposed secondment of Dr Holohan – though the Minister said last week he was not aware of the details – and also that the secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach, Martin Fraser, was also informed in advance. It is also likely to reference Government plans to increase research funding for public health.

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Senior sources across Government fear an unprecedented clash between a senior official and Government politicians over the affair.

On Sunday, Mr Martin again criticised the process for the appointment, though he expressed confidence in Mr Watt, describing him as a “capable public servant”. But there is still considerable anger among Ministers about the controversy, with many privately pointing fingers at Mr Watt’s role in the affair.

Separately, the Department of Public Expenditure has confirmed to The Irish Times that it was not informed about the proposed secondment of Dr Holohan to TCD until six days after it was announced, when the Department of Health sought sanction to funding for a new chief medical officer.

The appointment to the TCD role has sparked controversy since it emerged that it was intended that Dr Holohan leave on an open-ended secondment. The question of who would fund the role also caused controversy, with Trinity saying last week the post would be funded by the Department of Health.

Speaking on Sunday, Mr Martin said: “There will be a comprehensive summary and report tomorrow from the secretary general in Health to the Minister for Health but I think certainly lessons have to be learned.

‘Puzzled’

“Anything that involves the spending of public money or any substantive multi-annual programme of research is a policy issue that does require approval by Government.” He said there should have been “transparency from the outset”.

Mr Martin said he was “puzzled” by reports that Dr Holohan’s salary was not to come from public funds. “It’s clear to me that this was to be funded by the exchequer from what I know now.”

Sinn Féin’s health spokesman David Cullinane and Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart, both members of the Oireachtas Health Committee, respectively described the handling of Dr Holohan’s planned move to TCD as “a mess” and “ham-fisted”.

Both TDs said they wanted it discussed before the committee in the coming days and to have Mr Donnelly and Mr Watt attend.

The “mess” is entirely the making of “very senior civil servants within the department but also of the Minister for Health who failed to clarify many of these issues for days” and has “real questions to answer”, Mr Cullinane told RTÉ Radio One’s This Week.

“I believe senior civil servants are running rings around the Minister for Health not just on this issue but also the establishment of regional health areas, consultant contract talks, all of these issue which are really important.”

On Saturday, Dr Holohan announced his withdrawal from the plans, saying that he did not wish “to see the controversy of the last few days continuing”.