Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 11 May 2023

Public Accounts Committee

Appropriation Accounts 2021
Financial Statements 2021: HSE
Special Report No. 114 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Emergency Procurement of Ventilators by the HSE
Vote 38 - Health

9:30 am

Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

We donated 365 ventilators to India, where they are in use in five medical centres. We checked on them twice in the course of 2020 and 2021 and, so far, we have not been advised of any issues. Of the remainder, a large number did not meet the testing, either the first test we carried out or the on-site test before being put into use. They are in storage at the moment, only because we are pursuing the €22 million in those four legal cases. When we started, the sum involved was €50.5 million, of which €30 million has been secured and €22 million is being pursued. We are not saying we will get it all but we will continue to pursue it as long as it makes sense to do so, which it does.