Health

McGrath and Donohoe express confidence in Watt over Holohan row as Tánaiste backs chief of staff

Micheál Martin said Deirdre Gillane’s ‘presentation cannot be questioned’ in a dispute between her and Robert Watt while Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath both expressed confidence in secretary general of Department of Health

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has backed his own chief of staff in a row between senior government officials. Picture: Rollingnews.ie

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has sided with his chief of staff in a brewing row between senior government officials over the handling of Dr Tony Holohan’s botched appointment to a role at Trinity College Dublin last year.

Meanwhile, Michael McGrath and Paschal Donohoe have expressed confidence in Robert Watt, the senior civil servant at the centre of the dispute who worked closely with both ministers in his previous role as secretary general of the Department of ...