Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is ignoring all the positive things Deputy Durkan said. I thank the Deputy for his questions. In response to Deputy Durkan's questions, I will start with whether any money was lost or spent on this proposed secondment. The answer is "No". It was a proposal that never happened. I imagine we all agree, and I would not for a moment dream of speaking on behalf of any committee member here, but, certainly from my perspective, I think what was lost was the Chief Medical Officer's experience. I have met epidemiologists and all the clever folk who look at diseases. I met Dr. Mike Ryan recently in Geneva at the world health assembly. The conversation I had with him about emerging threats made my blood run cold. It really did. I am talking about what these experts are watching globally and what we need to be preparing for here.

Genuinely, I believe the big loss in this scenario was that of Dr. Holohan as a thought leader in future pandemic preparedness and public health leadership. I think he is uniquely experienced in Ireland in this regard. He was the Chief Medical Officer through the most difficult time in public health we have ever had. While I fully accept that we did not get everything right, it is recognised around the world that Ireland did well relative to other countries, that is, as a whole country. Obviously, Dr. Holohan was a leading figure in this context. My big regret in all this is that we lost the benefit of his expertise in that role. I think being able to have had him in that role would have made our country safer. I really do think this and that this was the big loss here.