THE RACE to replace Julie O’Neill as secretary general of the Department of Transport appears to have entered the final furlong.

It is understood a name will be put before the Cabinet next week. O’Neill is due to complete her seven-year term at the end of the week.

The post appears to have generated substantial interest. Assistant secretary John Murphy is believed to have thrown his hat into the ring for the top job, which carries a salary of about €270,000.

I’m also told that the job vacancy has attracted applications from Tom O’Mahony, an assistant secretary at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government; Mary Doyle and Philip Kelly, who both hold the title of assistant secretary at the Department of the Taoiseach; and Maurice Mullen, an assistant secretary with transport.

A career civil servant, Murphy took much of the blame for the department’s poor handling of Aer Lingus’s decision to cut the Shannon-Heathrow route in 2007. He was identified as the official who did not pass a briefing document on the matter to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey. Whether this weighs negatively on his pitch for the plum job remains to be seen.