The Health Service Executive could face a loss of up to €7m due to its dealings with a medical devices company that provided respiratory technology during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was told that the HSE bought respiratory products from the company, spending around €15m between 2020 and 2024.
However, the purchases were not compliant with its procurement process.
The company in question later went into liquidation, meaning there was "no hope" of the HSE recovering losses of between €5m and €7m, Chief Executive Bernard Gloster told PAC.
The HSE did not carry out adequate checks on the stock received from the company, while on one occasion it made a double payment of €723,000 on the same invoice, he said.
Mr Gloster said he became aware of the issue last Christmas due to a newspaper report.
He said a number of people would have signed off on the purchase. However, they have since left the HSE and can no longer face investigation.
"This occurred during Covid, in a period of high demand for fast-moving equipment; when most controls were relaxed or set aside to some degree," he added.
Personal Protection Equipment
Earlier, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Seamus McCarthy said the HSE incurred charges of €22.7m in relation to stocks of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and €11.1m in relation to vaccines held in storage at the end of 2024 which would reach their expected expiry dates before they could be used.
The HSE also incurred storage costs of €2.1m in respect of stocks of obsolete PPE and hand gel from previous years.
Mr Gloster told the committee that out-of-date stock would be properly destroyed by the end of the year which would lead to no further costs to storage.
He said a
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