Deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn, one of the health officials who steered the Republic of Ireland through the Covid-19 pandemic, has resigned.
He is the latest health official to leave his role, as the Republc of Ireland emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Glynn follows in the footsteps of outgoing chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan, who has already confirmed he will leave his role at the Department of Health.
Professor Philip Nolan, who chaired the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group as part of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), was announced as the new director general of Science Foundation Ireland last October.
A spokesperson for the department said: “Dr Ronan Glynn has resigned as deputy chief medical officer, effective May 31 2022.”
Dr Glynn, who took up the role of deputy chief medical officer in 2018, became one of the most familiar figures on the Irish airwaves during the pandemic.
He also filled in as acting chief medical officer during the pandemic for several months while Dr Holohan was temporarily absent.
He holds degrees from University College Dublin, the University of Aberdeen and NUI Galway, as well as being a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland.
The exit of Dr Holohan from the chief medical officer role was overshadowed by the controversy over his planned secondment to a professor role in Trinity College Dublin.
Dr Holohan decided against taking up the proposed role after a dispute over the transparency of the process that would have seen the State pay his annual salary of 187,000 euro through competitive research funding, administered by the Health Research Board.
The row prompted criticism of Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, as well as Secretary General in the Department of Health, Robert Watt.
The Department of Health has not confirmed whether Dr Glynn will remain in the public sector.
