Ireland’s new research agency Taighde Éireann-Research Ireland is to be established on August 1st with a new chief executive appointed on a temporary basis.
The new agency, with an annual budget in excess of €300 million, amalgamates Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC), and will be headed by Celine Fitzgerald as “a temporary appointment, pending the recruitment of a new CEO on a permanent basis”, Minister for Further and Higher Education Patrick O’Donovan said on Wednesday.
In April 2023, SFI director general Prof Philip Nolan was appointed “chief executive designate” of Research Ireland by Simon Harris, then minister for further and higher education, but was dismissed subsequently by the SFI board.
Mr O’Donovan declined to clarify the status of Prof Nolan in relation to the new agency.
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Prof Nolan, who came to national prominence as a member of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) during Covid-19, was unavailable for comment following the Minister’s announcement.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Further and Higher Education said: “In line with the provision in the Research and Innovation Act 2024, the board of Taighde Éireann-Research Ireland will appoint a person, recruited in accordance with the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004, to be the chief executive officer for such term, not exceeding five years, as the board may determine”.
Ms Fitzgerald has worked in senior management roles in the multinational, State, charity and SME sectors. As chief executive, she led Goal Global; the National Screening Service and Rigney Dolphin through periods of significant organisational reform.
In a High Court decision last month, Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy said the director general’s contract permitted the SFI board to dismiss him “for no reason at all”.
If he was dismissed last May 27th for misconduct, he should have got fair procedures, he accepted, but SFI denied this was the reason, instead maintaining the termination came pursuant to his contract terms.
Mr Justice Mulcahy said the SFI board gave some reasons for the dismissal which were “no doubt connected” to disruption following claims made against Prof Nolan by five senior staff members last December. Prof Nolan may be able to show at full trial that this was, in substance, dismissal for misconduct, but the current evidence did not establish this, the judge said.
An inquiry into the allegations made no findings against him but concluded he engaged in inappropriate behaviour which could ground allegations of gross misconduct. Prof Nolan has strongly denied this charge and is appealing the court decision. He argued he should have been permitted to defend himself via a disciplinary process but was instead dismissed.
Last week, the Court of Appeal dismissed an application from Prof Nolan asking to maintain his employment status with SFI pending determination of his appeal of what he submitted was a “fundamentally incorrect” High Court decision.
His counsel Padraic Lyons SC did not request that he be allowed to return to his day-to-day functions as director general of SFI but requested he would not be treated as dismissed for the purpose of protecting him if, ahead of his appeal, SFI is dissolved to make way for a new proposed research body.
Mr O’Donovan also announced Michael Horgan is to chair the Research Ireland board. He served as chair of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for a five-year term, was formerly chairman of the Health and Safety Authority. He is a former chief executive of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Most SFI and IRC staff are due to transfer to the new agency.
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