Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 January 2021
238. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the reason for the six month delay in commencing the recruitment process for a Secretary General in his Department particularly in the middle of a pandemic; the circumstances which led to the recent appointment of an interim Secretary General when there was an acting Secretary General already in post; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2149/21]
View answerFollowing the reassignment of the Department's former Secretary General to a newly established Government Department in July 2020, action was immediately taken to appoint an experienced senior official from the Department of Health as Acting Secretary General. This has ensured that the Department has been in a position to properly fulfil its role in relation to the management of the response to the pandemic over recent months. The decision to appointing a person on an acting basis was made at that time pending further consideration on how the post should be filled on a substantive basis.
Government has now decided that an Interim Secretary General should be appointed until the completion of an open competition run by the Top Level Appointments Committee to fill the post for a five year term. That competition is underway and is expected to be completed in the early months of this year.
