Chief medical officer to resign after only 18 months in role

The State's chief medical officer, Prof Breda Smyth, is leaving the role after only 18 months to take up an academic position in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

Confirming the move on Friday evening, the Department of Health said Prof Smyth was successful in a public appointments competition and had been offered the post of Professor of Public Health with the RCSI “in partnership with the Health Service Executive (HSE)”.

Prof Smyth was officially appointed chief medical officer in October 2022, after serving as interim chief medical officer when Dr Tony Holohan left the post earlier that year.

She joined the Department of Health on a three-year secondment from her position at the HSE where she had worked as Prof for Public Health Medicine at the University of Galway and Consultant in Public Health in HSE West.

She has specialised in public health for the last 16 years and has extensive clinical experience.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Prof Smyth sat on the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) and the expert advisory group that examined the use of rapid antigen tests.

Ms Smyth was also a founding member of the Covid-19 epidemiology modelling advisory group that advised Nphet on the trajectory of the virus.

At the time of her appointment, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said her “considerable experience, excellent leadership ability and extensive public health skill set” would be “a valuable asset” to the department.

The department has witnessed a number of senior staff members leave their roles following the Covid pandemic.

Former deputy chief medical offcer Dr Ronan Glynn, one of the health officials who steered Ireland through the pandemic, resigned in 2022 to work in the private sector.

Prof Smyth succeeded Dr Holohan in 2022 when he announced he was stepping down to take on a new role as Professor of Public Health Strategy and Leadership at Trinity College Dublin.

However, controversy developed when it emerged that it was an open-ended secondment, which the Department of Health would spend €2 million a year on until Dr Holohan’s retirement. Dr Holohan later announced that he was not proceeding with the secondment.