Paul Reid (HSE)


Paul Reid is the Director-General of the Health Service Executive since 2 April 2019. Previously he worked as the Executive Director with Eircom from 2005 to 2010, Head of Corporate Affairs with Trócaire from 2010 to 2011, Chief Operating Officer in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform from 2011 to 2014, and Chief Executive of Fingal County Council from 2014 to 2019.

Early life

Reid was born in Finglas, Dublin. He attended Trinity College Dublin and the National College of Ireland, and holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations. He moved to Fingal in 2014.

Career

At age 16, Reid began his first job as a trainee installer at the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. The job involved connecting landline telephones to homes and businesses and scaling up telephone poles on the roadside to run lines.
In 2005, Reid began his second job working for Eircom as an underground cable jointer and later qualified as a technician. By the time he left Eircom in 2010, he was Executive Director of Networks and Operations.
From 2010 to 2011, he worked as Head of Corporate Affairs with Trócaire, where he worked on an agenda to strengthen the overall governance of the organisation and on the implementation of best practice in HR, finance, risk management and communications.
From 2011 to 2014, Reid joined the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as the Chief Operating Officer. In this role, he led the development, implementation and oversight of the government's reform programme across the civil and public service. His big project was to secure a saving of €1 billion in the second round of public service pay cuts, leading to the Haddington Road Agreement. It was a difficult proposition as ASTI rejected its findings.
In 2014, he was appointed Chief Executive of Fingal County Council.
Following an open competition by the Public Appointment Service, Reid was appointed to his new position of Director-General at the Health Service Executive on 2 April 2019. In his role he leads over 117,000 dedicated staff who deliver a wide range of health services across Ireland. His vision for the health service is to focus on long term planning by implementing Sláintecare and delivering effective and safe services within available resources. Reid tweeted on Twitter that he left his position as Chief Executive of Fingal County Council on the same day he was appointed Director-General at the HSE.