Taoiseach defends giving McSweeney new job

The Taoiseach has defended a decision to move Government chief science adviser Barry McSweeney to another State job on equal pay, despite the controversy about his doctorate from an unrecognised US college.

Former Government chief science adviser Barry McSweeney

Last night, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin announced that Dr McSweeney would become research co-ordinator for the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

The Cabinet decided two weeks ago that Dr McSweeney's position was untenable after the controversy caused by the disclosure that he had received a PhD from Pacific Western University, a so-called "diploma mill", showed no signs of abating.

In the Dail this morning, Green Party leader Trevor Sargent questioned called for an audit of the qualifications of all those appointed to top positions by the Government.

He said the "fiasco" over Mr McSweeney resulted from "poor vetting and no competition."

Mr Sargent said a pattern was developing that "if there is a difficulty - whether it be with a minister or with a government appointtee - the natural follow-on is to move sideways.

"Is that the best you can do, Taoiseach, if you are trying to maintain credibility both for the scientific community and for your own government."

Mr Ahern responded by saying Mr McSweeney had been the head of the EU research centre. "It wasn't just the fact that he had 2,600 people under him, he ran a highly organised €340 million organisation.

Mr Ahern added: "Because a controversy has blown up about one issue does not take away the credibility of a senior public official.

"If the name of the game is just to dump people on the side of the street because there's a bit of controversy that's a bad day for this country and I don't like that.

He said he wished Mr McSweeney well in his new post.

Paying tribute to Mr McSweeney last night, Mr Martin said he had acted with "drive and enthusiasm" during his term as chief science adviser and had helped to forge links between research and development players.

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey agreed to accept him to head up his department's growing research budget, following meetings late last week. Though no agreement has yet been made about salary and conditions, it is understood that they will be comparable to the €102,000 a year Dr McSweeney was paid for the last year as chief science adviser.

In a statement which referred to "Barry McSweeney" and not "Dr McSweeney", Mr Martin thanked him "for his unstinting commitment and to wish him every success" in his new posting.

In his own statement, Dr McSweeney said he was "pleased" to move to his new job in Marine, where he would work on "energy, marine, ICT, digital and geoscience" issues.