The head of the Department of Health is insisting the secondment of the CMO to Trinity College was an ‘important and innovative’ proposal for Ireland.

Robert Watt will today tell the Oireachtas Health Committee that the funding of Dr Tony Holohan’s post was still ‘needed to be worked out’ when it was announced.

He will also express his regret that the secondment has now been scrapped and that the civil service will now be losing Dr Holohan’s knowledge and skills.

It emerged last month that Dr Holohan would continue to receive his full €187,000 salary from the Department of Health while working a Professor of Public Health at Trinity.

On top of that, Mr Watt offered Trinity an annual ring-fenced allocation of €2m per year for the duration of the CMO’s secondment – potentially costing the State a total of €20m by the time he reached retirement age.

Mr Watt has suggested the funding would have been administered the Health Research Board – however, that body has said it was not informed of the idea.

Responsibility

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall told Newstalk she has her own regrets about the way the secondment was handled.

“I think it was very important that we develop a research function in one of the universities to underpin and support public healthcare and I think it is regrettable that Dr Holohan’s experience and expertise is lost to the Irish health service.

“But I think the responsibility for this lies firmly and squarely on the shoulders of Mr Watt.”

Funding

She said Mr Watt had no authority to organse an annual payment of that size.

“He proposed that the Department would make €2m available in a ring-fenced allocation every year for the duration of the secondment, which was likely to be about ten years,” she said.

“I don’t see how he has the authority to make a decision about €20m and I will be putting that question to him.”

Following the controversy over his appointment to Trinity, Dr Holohan announced that he would not be taking up the proposed secondment.

He will now retire as Chief Medical Officer in July and leave the public service.

Both Mr Watt and Dr Holohan are due to answer questions at the committee today.