Results 3,321-3,340 of 9,147 for speaker:Jim O'Callaghan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Is it common for somebody to be seconded to a university for longer than five years though?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: But not for more than five years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Looking at Maura Quinn's report I thought that those secondments were for two and four years, respectively, but maybe I am wrong about that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: We get to 25 February and Mr. Watt gives his formal support for this. Mr. Watt makes the point that there was an email from Dr. Holohan to the then Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach on 24 February. Ultimately a letter of intent was sent to Trinity College Dublin on 16 March and it set out the terms. Am I correct in saying Dr. Holohan wrote that letter of intent, Mr. Watt...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Was the draft shared with Mr. Fraser?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: There is one significant difference between the email to Mr. Fraser of 24 February and the letter of intent of 16 March and that is the funding. It went from €1 million to €2 million. How did that happen?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: It is stated in the letter of intent that the €2 million would be administered through the HRB. When did the HRB agree to that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: It is a separate body that was established by legislation in the 1960s. It has its own board and minutes. Mr. Watt is aware that the HRB was not particularly happy when it heard about this in April 2022.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Let us read what its minutes say. The minutes of the HRB state that it "was not involved in any discussion around this post" and the report states: "the HRB has rigorous and transparent policies and processes in place... [for] both application for, and assessment of, research awards." That sounds to me like they knew nothing about it and they were not particularly happy at the fact that they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Okay. We do not really have the full picture here. All of the communications from the Department of Health with Trinity were done through Dr. Holohan and we do not have access to those emails because it was done through his personal email. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Hold on. You are the Secretary General of the Department of Health. Surely you know if there are communications between the Department of Health and Trinity College in respect of this important secondment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Ms Quinn says it was all done by Dr. Holohan through his personal account and she did not have access to them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Does that not underline the sort of casual nature of this arrangement? Mr. Watt, do not be offended by this. It seems to underline that this was a very casual arrangement where the person who was benefiting from the secondment was doing the negotiations on his own behalf, and everything seemed to have been approved without it going through what appeared to be the process as provided for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: I have a few more questions and I will be finished with you then. In your briefing note to the Taoiseach on 11 April, Mr. Watt, you say expressly: “It was not explicitly stated but it was envisaged that this would involve competitive funding organised appropriately.” When you look at the letter of intent, the Department of Health is committing €2 million and there is no...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: So you do not think there is any inaccuracy in the statement that you made to the Taoiseach on 11 April 2022, when you said it would involve competitive funding, when the letter of intent, which is agreed and signed, expressly says the Department is committed to €2 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Ms Quinn concludes her report by saying: “The proposed funding mechanism and absence of any detail on the governance of same, do not, in my opinion, meet accepted norms of scrutiny, transparency and accountability.” I have to say, having read her report, and coming to this objectively and in the public interest, that I agree with what she says there. Do you agree with it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Why do you not agree with it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: I have a final question for you, Mr. Watt. The draft report was furnished to you, I think, in June 2022 and you made a submission back to Ms Quinn in respect of it. One of the things you say in your response is: “I was subsequently instructed to finalise the arrangements to give effect to this.” Who were you talking about? Who instructed you to finalise the letter of intent?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: So it is probably fairer to say you were not instructed but you believed you had the authority to finalise it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Secretary General of the Department of Health (19 Apr 2023)

Jim O'Callaghan: Thank you.