Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 6 October 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (Resumed)

9:30 am

Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

Typically, we would not have bought protective suits. We would have bought a different type of full-bodied gown. At the time they were not available, these protective suits were acquired at a significant cost, as everything was at that point. Subsequently, we acquired the appropriate gowns. We have not had a use for these and have had to store them. We have been seeking an appropriate alternative use for them, which has proven more difficult than we would have expected. We have ended up having to store them at a cost. More recently, we have rationalised the storage bringing more of it in-house. We are storing less of it. We are using less PPE and can move it on. This is one of those legacy issues that we have not fully closed out and we need to do that, which we accept.