Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 19 April 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health

Mr. Robert Watt:

We said in the letter we would "make an annual ring-fenced allocation of €2 million for the duration of the secondment, to be administered through the Health Research Board, a body under the aegis of the Department of Health, to support the development and activities of interinstitutional collaboration led by Dr. Holohan from his position [in Trinity College Dublin]". We further stated that this allocation would provide the university with funds to provide for Dr. Holohan's salary. The letter does not say all the funding would go to his salary. It says the funds will provide for his salary and other professional expenses. It further states that this collaboration is "to include University Departments of Public Health, the Department of Health, the HSE and others as appropriate to support research and its translation into practice, policy analysis and capacity [building]...". This is my understanding of what the letter means. It is the same understanding Tony Holohan has, the same understanding Martin Fraser has and the same understanding the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, has. That is what we all understood the letter to purport to do.

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