Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 September 2021

Public Accounts Committee

Financial Statement 2020 and Related Matters: HSE

9:30 am

Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

The outstanding amount owed at the time of the annual financial statement that is before the committee was €42.5 million. We have fully provided for that. Effectively, we have charged it to last year. Any amount of that that we secure is a benefit for the current year. As we have said, so far, the figure is actually down to just below €35 million. There is another €11.5 million which we expect to get imminently. The piece that is still to be worked on is €23 million. I would not want to give any kind of expectation that we will get all of that, but I can assure the Deputy that we will pursue it and we are doing so through commercial and legal routes. We have appointed representatives both in Ireland and China to engage with companies. Where we can get agreements, we will.