Mr. Liam Woods:

I received a letter from the chairperson of St. Vincent's hospital this week and I have responded to it, copying a redacted version of the allegation to the chairperson so that he could see it. I was surprised that they had not seen it, to be blunt.

I was asked whether there are any other staff who are on unpaid leave or have resigned. Not that I am aware of. That question was asked by Deputy Ó Caoláin.

Is the HSE taking the widest possible view of this matter? Yes, we are. We understand that there is a constant and ongoing risk in an area such as procurement, and it is not solely in procurement. In terms of our response, we will focus on the individual incident and understanding the nature and detail of same, and assist the Garda in any way we can in terms of the investigation. While this whistleblowing was not to the HSE, it would in any event be our duty, under circulars of government, to report such matters to the Garda and allow them it investigate. We will work in support of that to any extent possible.

In regard to steps regarding procurement at all sites, we have communicated again centrally with all procurement personnel about the need for probity and compliance with existing standards. We are also holding workshops nationally. Both the chief financial officer and Mr. Swords are attending workshops nationally dealing with both the understanding of and the need for compliance with our national standards.

A comment was made about drugs and health care expenditure. Yes, our capital spend is separate. There is a €330 million capital budget in the HSE, so items of capital, and issues around management of procurement relating to capital, also come to bear.

The Deputy also indirectly referred to the purchase of drugs within the community services, which, from memory, is between €1.8 billion and €1.9 billion. That is a very significant number, so these issues apply.

One will see organisations such as the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association moving towards voluntary declaration of transfer of value from their member organisations to staff. The association is comprised of 40 large pharmaceutical firms. One will see similar trends with the Irish Medical and Surgical Trade Association in terms of codes of ethics and behaviour for their members, and it represents about 90% of medical surgical suppliers. The spend is wide; that is very true.

I have already mentioned drugs and health-related expenditure. Ordering in the HSE is widespread, and it is not just procurement. We have referenced that.

Deputy Healy asked whether this matter was the tip of the iceberg. We have to have effective procedures in place, vigilantly ensure they are being complied with, and act when we see non-compliance. Our procedures are strong, and our need to ensure compliance is constant. In terms of the environment that we work within and the audit reports that we receive, there was a particular chapter on procurement in the last report which made some observations that we need to follow through on. They were about ensuring, in effect, aggregated tendering on a group basis through the use of frameworks.