Irish woman Lorraine Nolan appointed head of EU's drug agency

Lorraine Nolan has been appointed to the high-profile role as head of the EU's drug agency.
She was appointed executive director of the European Union Drugs Agency after receiving a two-thirds majority in a secret ballot, holding off competition from two other candidates.
Since 2016, Ms Nolan has been the chief executive of Ireland's Health Products Regulatory Authority, the agency in charge of regulating medicines, medical devices, and similar products.
She is a former chair of the management board of the European Medicines Agency, and has been lead support to Irish ministers for health in drug policy development.
She holds a PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry from Trinity, and has also worked as a forensic scientist for the Department of Justice.
Ms Nolan will take the role at the beginning of next year.
Based in Lisbon, Portugal, the EU's Drugs Agency aims to support bloc-wide policymaking by providing evidence-based information on drugs, drug addiction, and their consequences.
Last week, for example, it warned that Europe is facing an emerging threat from synthetic drugs — including artificial substances that mimic cannabis, heroin, and stimulants.
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AIB share sale brings banker pay back into focus

Irish Times

18 minutes ago

Irish Times

AIB share sale brings banker pay back into focus

Nothing was more certain this week than that Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe 's decision to lift caps on bankers' pay would trigger an immediate adverse reaction. And so it proved. On Tuesday, just hours after confirming the State had sold the last of the shares it held in AIB , the Minister announced there would no longer be a State-imposed cap on salaries at the three Irish banks. The decision comes despite the State continuing to own 57 per cent of PTSB . The Minister explained the logic of the decision by saying it would ensure a 'level playing field' between Bank of Ireland , which had already been given freedom on salaries back in 2022 after it repaid its State bailout, and AIB. Including PTSB meant it would not suffer a 'competitive disadvantage'. In the Dáil that afternoon, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald slammed the return of what she called 'gold-plated salaries' and 'bumper bonuses for the top brass at AIB'. READ MORE She accused the Government of doing a 'botch job' in its handling of the shares and claimed that €5 billion would have been generated 'simply by holding on to the shares'. Noting that it was taxpayers who had bailed the banks out, she asked: 'How do you explain this €5 billion loss to the Irish taxpayer.' In fairness, the Minister, for now anyway, is holding firm on the 89 per cent supertax that applies to bonuses in excess of €20,000 across the three surviving domestic banks. And trying to get such a move through the Oireachtas would certainly be a heavy lift. And, as it happens, once dividends, warrants, fees and other income is included, the final sale of the AIB shares left the State closer to €650 million out of pocket on the €20.8 billion it put into keep the bank afloat after the financial crash. Not that that is an insignificant sum, especially when you consider that it is just relative to the break-even figure – not allowing for any of the investment return the State might normally expect on an investment that, in part, dates back 16 years. Ireland's two big banks may feel that they have finally closed the door on a past they would like to forget: it is likely to be some time yet before the memory of the crash and its fallout dims in the mind of the wider public, never mind the Opposition.