Ambulance service chief’s use of funds investigated by gardaí

GARDAÍ are investigating revelations the former head of Ireland’s ambulance service misused at least €10,000 in HSE funds for personal reasons over a five year period.

Sources have confirmed, after a routine internal audit of fuel card expenses in the northwest region, officials found that Frank McClintock could not explain how €2,000 to €3,000 of his business petrol costs were spent every year.

Mr McClintock resigned from his lucrative €100,000-a-year-plus salary position as assistant national director within the National Hospitals Office on March 19.

The HSE, which only confirmed the move on Thursday, declined to provide any reason for his departure and said Mr McClintock was not available to discuss the issue.

However, when asked about the fuel card costs discrepancies, a spokesperson confirmed: “As part of a general internal audit, fuel cards in the northwest region were reviewed. During this internal audit process a discrepancy was discovered.

“This discrepancy has now been rectified. The HSE has handed a file on the matter to the gardaí and consequently is not in a position to comment further.”

The revelations follow a year of controversy for the ambulance service involving Mr McClintock.

Last summer the then senior HSE official faced serious questions when it emerged he and his wife received an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas from a health sector firm.

The 2008 trip, which Mr McClintock said he won in a competition, included a stay at the four-star Renaissance Hotel costing $1,258.95 (€948).

While the company involved, Ferno, does not have a direct link to Ireland, its Irish distributor, Patron, has received a series of contracts from the national ambulance service to supply stretchers in recent years.

Although the trip appeared to breach the HSE’s own ethics rules, a spokesperson at the time said there was “no issue” and “no conflict of interest” involved.

It has also emerged that over a three-year period Ferno/Patron received three lucrative payments worth in excess of €107,000.

Mr McClintock personally signed off on two invoices worth €70,459 while another invoice for €22,168.20 dated two months before the US trip was signed “approved — Frank McClintock”.

As a result of this finding, the HSE initiated a review of procurement processes in the ambulance services.

It is understood this review is expected to be concluded shortly but is not believed to be linked to Mr McClintock’s departure.

The review is expected to include issues surrounding the decision to purchase 167 Mercedes Sprinter model ambulances from German firm Wietmarscher between 2006 and 2008. The vehicles cost in excess of €22 million and were involved in four cases where their engines inexplicably went on fire.

Ferno/Patron are contracted to supply these vehicles with stretchers.

Previous reports have noted that Mr McClintock received €64,642 in mileage and subsistence between 2006 and 2007, in addition to €27,543 in overnight expenses in 2007.

In a 2008 interview with the Derry-based newspaper The Sunday Journal, the then senior HSE official said working in the service “determines where I go on holidays, where I live and what type of car I drive”.