HSE defends security bill for troubled teenagers

The security bill for Kerry General Hospital for the first nine months of 2012 was almost 10 times the cost of security services at Cork University Hospital.

The HSE insisted last night that the huge variation in costs between the smaller general hospital in Tralee and the regional hospital in Cork “was not comparable” as the hospitals operate different security systems.

A spokesman said: “Security at CUH is primarily operated by in-house HSE security staff that are on the HSE payroll and only a small proportion of their security is provided by a private security firm.