Public Service

Elaine Byrne: Don’t read too much into Ronan Glynn’s move to EY – talk of a public service ‘brain drain’ doesn’t hold up

In a highly competitive jobs market, it is not unusual that people transfer in and out of the public and private sectors, and nor is it necessarily a bad thing

Dr Ronan Glynn: may have decided that public squabbles in Oireachtas committees, the internal politics of the Department of Health and the unrelenting public profile of the role were just not worth the grief. And who could blame him? Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The imminent departure of Ronan Glynn as the state’s deputy chief medical officer brings into focus once again the recurring debate about a brain drain from the public service. But does this hold up under scrutiny?

Glynn is moving into the private sector to take up a position with the health advisory team in EY, the consultancy firm. It comes shortly after the unedifying controversy over the proposed secondment of Tony Holohan to a role ...