Smyth to quit CMO role
CHIEF Medical Officer Breda Smyth is to leave the job after just over a year to take up a position at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
Prof. Smyth replaced Dr Tony Holohan, who guided Ireland through the pandemic, as CMO in October 2022.
She is now moving to an academic role at the RCSI, where she will become professor of public health.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: ‘The department... can confirm the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Breda Smyth, was successful in a public appointments competition and has been offered the post of professor of public health with the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland in partnership with the HSE. Prof. Smyth remains in post and will continue as CMO until her new role commences.’
While Dr Holohan was at the helm of the Department of Health for 14 years before his resignation, Prof. Smyth took up the post in an acting capacity in the summer of 2022 and was only appointed full-time the following October.
The Department of Health will now have to advertise for another Chief Medical Officer. Until that person is chosen, it is expected an acting CMO will be appointed from the existing team of medical officers.
Prof. Smyth, the first woman to hold the job of CMO, was previously professor for public health medicine at NUI Galway and consultant in public health in HSE West.
She contributed significantly to Ireland’s Covid-19 response, having been a member of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), the Rapid Testing Expert Advisory Group, chief investigator on the multi-site UniCoV study, as well as director of public health in HSE West.
She was also a founding member of the Covid-19 – Irish Epidemiology Modelling Advisory Group (IEMAG).
When she was made CMO, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: ‘Prof. Smyth has... contributed significantly to the national response to Covid-19 in her many roles throughout the management of the pandemic. She brings this considerable experience, excellent leadership ability and extensive public health skillset to the role.’
Prof. Smyth, a mother-of-two from Straide, Co. Mayo, had said that as CMO, she would focus on implementing initiatives such as Healthy Ireland and Sláintecare. The CMO, who is paid €202,000 a year, reports directly to Department of Health secretary-general Robert Watt. Her predecessor Dr Holohan drew controversy in 2022 when he announced he was stepping down to become a professor of public health strategy and leadership at Trinity College Dublin. Ultimately, he retired and did not take up the planned position.