Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and the members of the committee. I am joined today by Mr. Derek Tierney, assistant secretary, head of infrastructure in the Department of Health, and by his colleague in infrastructure, Ms Andrea Heron. I am also joined by Mr. John Wright, principal in the Department for IT and corporate services, and by Mr. Ken Mooney, principal in the Department for strategic HR.

I thank the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach for its invitation to me to meet with it to discuss this topic. I express my gratitude to Ms Maura Quinn, who agreed to undertake this work, and did so on a pro bonobasis. The aim of Ms Quinn’s work was to "determine learnings from the process related to the proposed secondment of the Chief Medical Officer and associated research proposal". Ms Quinn was also asked to make recommendations that could inform future such initiatives. As I have said on previous occasions and, as the report makes clear, the proposed secondment “would have served both the Government and the Department of Health’s interest in, and focus on, public health collaboration” and leadership. It is clear to me that all of those who became involved in this process did so in good faith. They did so with the intention of retaining for the public service the unique and valuable expertise of the former Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan, who served the State so well through the pandemic.

Ms Quinn concluded that the proposed secondment "required a longer lead time to ensure that all the various elements had been considered, discussed and prepared for and to ensure that there was proper stakeholder consultation and communication throughout the process".

I agree with that. She also noted that the Department of Health had come through an extremely difficult two years, given that we had been managing a pandemic. Ms. Quinn said it was clear that all staff were under enormous pressure. This was coupled with an extremely demanding workload. As Minister, I have seen the huge demands on and the very heavy workload of my senior officials and, indeed, of officials right across the Department. Nonetheless, and as Ms Quinn pointed out, "rather than trying to progress this proposed secondment in an extremely tight timeline, it required detailed consideration, review and discussion."

Notwithstanding the intense pressure the officials involved were under and their concerns about confidentiality, as I have said previously, it is a matter of regret that I was not informed at an earlier stage of the details of the proposed secondment. While it was clearly intended by all parties involved that the rigour of the Health Research Board, HRB, be brought to any such funding, the fact that consultation had not happened at this point in the process led to confusion in public commentary and the perception, at least, that this was not the intention. I accept that no attempt was made to conceal the nature of the agreement with Trinity College Dublin in respect of the proposed secondment. Indeed, those details were put into the public domain after this information was provided by the Department of Health, as the report makes clear.

As I said when the report was published, I have written to the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to see whether there is a need to bring further clarity to the guidelines for secondments between the civil and public service. This report draws a line under this episode at a time when we have been engaged in an unprecedented expansion, reform of, and investment in, our health services. It also led to the loss of the former CMO to the public service. As I have stated previously, this is something that I regret greatly and, indeed, is deeply regretted by all who care for our public health service. We will learn the lessons set out in this report and implement the recommendations. I am very happy to answer any questions that the Chair and committee may have.