There have now been a number of high profile resignations during Health Minster Stephen Donnelly’s tenure in office
It is a huge loss to the public service that the two people who chiefly led the public health response to the pandemic have now resigned, according to Social Democrats Health Spokesperson Róisín Shortall.
“Outgoing deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn has been at the coal face of the public health response to the pandemic for more than two years. As well as being centrally involved in devising and leading the public health response, Dr Glynn was also centrally involved with communicating that response to the public. His regular videos, explaining the State’s covid response, provided accessible expert advice and reassurance to an alarmed public. I would like to thank Dr. Glynn for his service to the State and wish him every success in his future career.
“Questions must now be asked of the Health Minister about the departure of the two most senior people tasked with leading the public health response to Covid-19. The Department of Health is chiefly to blame for Dr. Tony Holohan’s proposed secondment to Trinity College being abandoned. Is that controversy also at the root of Dr Glynn’s decision to leave the public service? The loss of knowledge and expertise, both medics had built up leading the State’s pandemic response, is clearly a huge loss to the public service.
“There have now been a number of high profile resignations during Health Minster Stephen Donnelly’s tenure in office. The two individuals tasked with implementing Sláintecare, Sláintecare executive director and Department of Health assistant secretary Laura Magahy and Chairman of the Sláintecare Implementation Advisory Committee Tom Keane, resigned last year because of resistance within the HSE and the Department of Health to implementing the plan.
“Meanwhile, Dr Tony Holohan and HSE chief operations officer Ann O’Connor also tendered their resignations recently. Given the exodus of high level staff from the Department of Health and the health service, questions must now be asked of the Minister leading that Department. We have heard a lot recently about lessons being learned within the Department. Is the Minister satisfied that staff are properly supported, or are there further lessons the Minister needs to learn about retaining highly qualified people in their hugely important roles?”
10 May, 2022
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