HSE retiree plays down €300,000 contracts

THE health service official given two non-tendered contracts worth almost €300,000 by a state group he chaired months before leaving the public sector has defended the cost, saying “some of it went on VAT”.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner on Sunday, Pat Harvey said this and other factors should be considered when the unvetted projects — one of which had no funding, resulting in the diversion of other funds — are examined.

Mr Harvey is a former chairman of the defunct HSE Employers Agency (HSE EA); former chief executive of the North Western Health Board (now the HSE North West); former chairman of the personnel, payroll and related systems project; and former general manager of Sligo and Letterkenny hospitals.