Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As somebody who advocated that Mr. Fraser be invited to come before the committee I thank him very much for taking the time to do so. I appreciate that he is busy. All Deputies appreciate that civil servants are busy and cannot be attending numerous committees every week. Nor can they pick and choose which committees they appear before and I thank Mr. Fraser for coming before the committee.

I asked a parliamentary question over the vacation as to whether the proposed professorship of public health strategy and leadership at Trinity College Dublin would be proceeded with and whether the Minister for Health would make a statement on the matter. Fortuitously I received the reply last night. It states:

The establishment of a professorship within Trinity College Dublin is a matter for the University itself as an autonomous Higher Education institution that controls its own staffing requirements and academic affairs. The Minister for Health has no role in deciding on these matters.

Mr. Fraser might not be surprised by that reply. Was he surprised at the fact this role was being created and at this synergy, to say the least, between the Department of Health, the Chief Medical Officer and Trinity College in developing this unique position? Mr. Fraser clarified to Deputy Doherty what he learned and when he learned it. Was he surprised this new role was being created in the way it was and that essentially Exchequer funding was going to be expended on the professorship, albeit indirectly, by seconding Dr. Holohan?