SCREEN CHIEF’S ARTS CV
THE programme director of Cervical Check, who has been recalled to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to address ‘misleading’ statements, has a background in computer engineering and the arts.
John Gleeson, 57, from Limerick, was appointed deputy programme manager of Cervical Screening in 2007, before being appointed programme manager in 2009.
According to her LinkedIn page, his wife, Dr Criona Burns, is the GP adviser to the Cervical Screening programme.
Mr Gleeson served as director of the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick from 2001 until its liquidation 2013.
In 2011 he was appointed chairman of the Belltable board, while also running his own consultancy firm, 3P Crew Limited.
The Belltable went into liquidation in 2013 due to mounting losses, and disputes at board level over its future. Sources in Limerick told the Irish Mail on Sunday they were ‘bemused’ by Mr Gleeson’s springboard from the arts to a senior role in health. In response to numerous queries from the Mo S, a HSE spokesman said Mr Gleeson’s appointments were ‘all carried out through the appropriate and approved National Cancer Screening Services HR processes’. The questions put to the HSE included whether Mr Gleeson had any prior experience in health, medicine or a healthmanagement programme prior to taking up the position in 2007, or whether his consultancy firm had received any contracts from the HSE on any occasion. ‘We do not make direct comment on the employment details of any staff member as it would be inappropriate,’ he said. Mr Gleeson did not respond to queries from the Mo S this week.