The Tánaiste has defended the Government's decision to appoint Barry McSweeney as the Government's chief scientific advisor.
Mary Harney said a doctorate was never a requirement for the post.
Speaking at a conference in Dublin today, she said Mr McSweeney had enormous experience managing 2,000 people and a budget of €5-6bn at EU level.
The Government felt he would be enormously beneficial in advising them on science policy and also on accessing additional EU funds.
She added that the issue was not academic qualifications, but the use of a doctorate that she said was very questionable.
Ms Harney said it had brought the office into disrepute.
She added that the Government felt the fairest thing to do was to retain his talents in the public sector but to remove him from his post as the chief scientific advisor.
