A member of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has resigned in protest at the Government's decision to appoint former secretary general of the Department of Health and Children Michael Kelly as full-time chairman of the body.
Describing the decision to appoint Mr Kelly to the post as a "hasty move" which is "problematic for me on a number of fronts", Barry O'Brien of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland said he felt compelled to tender his resignation in a letter to Minister for Education Mary Hanafin last week.
A member of the HEA for four years, Mr O'Brien is concerned that the decision to appoint Mr Kelly to a full-time post was not best practice and went against the recommendations of the HEA's own members, who wished to see a part-time chairman appointed.
But he stressed that his resignation had nothing whatsoever to do with Mr Kelly's credentials for the job.
The surprise appointment of Mr Kelly to the full-time salaried post of chairman of the HEA earlier this month followed the publication of the Travers report into illegal care charges for the elderly, which strongly criticised senior officials and special advisers at his department.
Previously, the Department of Education had signalled the post would be filled on a part-time basis. This prompted criticism from some in the university sector that the appointment of Mr Kelly represented a U-turn.
At the time, senior sources said the manner of the appointment underlined the low priority being given by the Government to the third-level sector, and was based on "political convenience" rather than a properly worked-out strategy.
In a letter outlining the reasons for his resignation, Mr O'Brien states that he has taken "serious issue" with the Government's decision to transfer Mr Kelly to the HEA in a full-time capacity.
"In a recent strategic review, the members of the authority agonised over what was best for the future management of the organisation," he writes. "Members of the authority formed the opinion that the post of chairman should be part-time and non-executive as opposed to the post of chief executive which must be full-time and executive in nature."
This was an opinion which was fully endorsed by the OECD group which reviewed the third-level education sector here, he adds.
"The Government decision to appoint a full-time, salaried, chairman is at variance with both the wishes of the authority and the recommendation of the OECD review group. This hasty move is also, in my personal opinion, in contravention of the principles of recommended best practice in the public sector.
"Out of respect for my own personal integrity, I felt compelled to tender my resignation with immediate effect, which I did by direct notification to the Minister concerned last week . . . By my action, I do hope that I have contributed in some small way towards the strengthening of State bodies in the future."
Mr O'Brien declined to comment further on his decision to resign when contacted by The Irish Times yesterday. The situation was as outlined in his letter, he said, and the substance of this had been conveyed to Ms Hanafin in a letter of resignation sent last week. He had not discussed the matter with any other members of the authority, he said, and he was acting in a personal capacity.
Elsewhere in his letter, Mr O'Brien said it had been suggested that the difficulties experienced by the Government over nursing care charges for the elderly stemmed largely from a failure to check the files in advance of making a decision.
"If that lesson was applied to the file of the HEA it would have guided the Government towards a better decision," he writes.
The HEA has 10 members, including communications consultant Monica Leech.