New row over hunt for HSE chief

Government sources have strongly denied claims made by the former Fine Gael Minister for Health, Michael Noonan, that the collapse of the talks on the appointment of Prof Brendan Drumm as head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) stemmed from opposition among senior healthcare figures to his plans to introduce a "cabinet" of outside experts.

Mr Noonan told The Irish Times yesterday that despite Prof Drumm's demand to return to his academic consultant post after finishing his term with the HSE, the issue that caused the breakdown was his insistence on bringing in a small team of outside advisers.

However Government sources said last night that the issue of the "cabinet" had been agreed in talks with Prof Drumm on Wednesday night. Prof Drumm had sought to introduce a team of six advisors to work on the healthcare reform programme.

Some Government sources said that while there had been certain reservations about the concept of the introduction of the outside "cabinet", this issue had been agreed in the talks on Wednesday night between senior health service management figures and Prof Drumm.

Government sources have maintained that the break came over the issue of Prof Drumm's demand to resume in his role as Professor of Paediatrics at UCD upon finishing his term of office with the HSE. They maintained that as, in effect his current professorship would have been filled in the interim, the Government would have had to fund a second chair at UCD at a cost of nearly €200,000 per year. Prof Drumm has maintained that there were precedents in cases such as the masters of the maternity hospitals to allow people who took up administrative posts to resume their careers when their terms were completed.

Both Government and health service sources said last night that there were no back channel talks currently underway with Prof Drumm on the HSE chief executive post.

A sub-committee of the board of the HSE is to meet next week to decide how to proceed with finding a replacement. There was speculation among some senior Government figures that the HSE may consider a non-medic with more business or administrative experience for the post on the next occasion. The first candidate selected for the position, Prof Aidan Halligan, who turned down the job before Christmas, was also a doctor.