John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the members. I want to come in on a couple of points. On the expired PPE, the figure of €33.8 million is extraordinary. The Comptroller and Auditor General touched on this following the question from Deputy Connolly. This figure is probably only a snapshot. It would be good to get a true figure as to how much has been written off to date and how much storage has cost over those years. I note the figure of €2.1 million. We need to write to the HSE and get those figures. I do not expect the Comptroller and Auditor General to provide them now.

A specific question to Mr. McCarthy would be as to whether, in these accounts, we know there were serious issues in terms of substandard protective equipment being brought into the State. We know the tendering process, in an emergency situation, did cause a lot of difficulties in terms of the standard of equipment but also with equipment not arriving at all. I refer here to respirators and other equipment that was highlighted in the past. In these accounts, is there any line in terms of the recoupment of any of those funds through legal or any other process that the HSE has embarked on?