Health Tapes

New recordings: The ‘car crash’ Covid spending that was ‘as big a sin as it gets’

The HSE was unable to explain why it committed to spending €770 million on personal protective equipment when it had only been given sanction to spend €205 million

Members of the Defence Forces helping out during the pandemic. Concerns were raised about the HSE’s spending on personal protective equipment. Picture: Office of Government Procurement

New leaked recordings from inside the health system reveal serious dysfunction in the HSE’s management of its budget during the Covid-19 pandemic with one official remarking that it had committed “as big a sin as it gets” by spending money without government approval.

The Business Post has obtained recordings of the Health Budget Oversight Group (HBOG) which is made up of officials from the HSE, Department of Health and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform ...