Dr Tony Holohan keeps Department of Health €187k salary and public sector pension – but politicians can’t explain how he landed new Trinity College role
Dr. Tony Holohan will not be returning as chief medical officer to the Department of Health and his new academic contract with Trinity College is of “indefinite duration”, Department of Health secretary general Robert Watt confirmed today.
He was quizzed at the Oireachtas Health Committee about the controversy over the Department of Health’s decision to continue to pay Dr Holohan’s salary of over €187,000 salary although he will be working as a professor in Trinity College.
Asked by Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway about the decision Mr Watt said Dr Holohan will take on a new role in Trinity and a new permanent chief medical officer would be appointed in his place in the coming months.
Senator Conway said it could mean the Department of Health was funding Dr Holohan’s Trinity post for the “ next 20 years.”