The new Secretary General of the Department of Health has been named, filling the post vacated after the damning Travers Report last month.
Michael Scanlan, an assistant secretary in the Department of Finance, replaces Michael Kelly, who was moved to the Higher Education Authority following the publication of the Travers Report into nursing home charges.
The appointment is effective immediately.
The report by John Travers found there were serious failures among civil servants within the Department of Health in dealing with the issue.
It said senior officials in the Department of Health and Children were responsible for a "long-term systematic failure" that allowed the practice of illegally charging pensioners for residential health care to continue for nearly three decades.