Donnelly under fire as Glynn follows Holohan out of the health service
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Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is under fire after deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn announced his resignation less than a month after his boss Dr Tony Holohan said that he is to retire.
Dr Glynn is to leave the health service on May 31, and it is understood he will take up a role with consultancy firm EY in its health advisory team. HSE chief operations officer Ann O’Connor also tendered her resignation recently.
Mr Donnelly is facing questions from the Opposition as to whether Dr Glynn's decision not to remain in the public service was related to the botched secondment of Dr Holohan to Trinity College Dublin.
“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," said Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall.
“I am concerned that we are losing another very senior person from our health service and that it comes hot on the heels of the retirement of Dr Tony Holohan."
In addition to Dr Holohan, Dr Glynn, and Ms O'Connor, there have been other high-profile resignations from senior posts in the health service recently.
The two individuals tasked with implementing Sláintecare, Laura Magahy and Sláintecare Implementation Advisory Committee chairman Tom Keane, resigned last year because of resistance within the HSE and the Department of Health to implementing the plan.
Dr Glynn played a central role alongside Dr Holohan during the pandemic and deputised during Dr Holohan’s compassionate leave in 2020 due to his late wife's illness.
A Galway native, Dr Glynn qualified from UCD in 2002 with Bachelor of Science degree (physiotherapy) and with his degree in medicine from the University of Aberdeen in 2007. He has been in his role as deputy chief medical officer since 2018.
Mr Donnelly and Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid tribute to Dr Glynn for his role during the pandemic.
Mr Donnelly said: “I wish Ronan all the best in the next chapter of his career.
"Throughout the pandemic, he advised me as both acting CMO and deputy CMO.
Mr Martin also paid tribute to Dr Glynn, saying he personifies the "very best of Irish public service".