Labour claims to have 'explosive' letters showing HSE and Dept tensions over Covid testing

Labour leader Alan Kelly has said he has “explosive” correspondence between the head of the Health Service Executive and senior officials in the Department of Health regarding governance issues.

Mr Kelly told the Dáil he “could see why the Health Minister did not want them published”.

However, Health Minister Simon Harris said the letters between the HSE and the Department of Health were not explosive and tensions will always exist between different officials.

Mr Kelly said the contents show serious failings of governance and accountability, and raises questions about how the Covid-19 testing targets were arrived at.

“It should not have taken three weeks of pressure in the Dáil to force the Government to release them.

“These are the letters I revealed in the Dáil existed and asked the Taoiseach to publish weeks ago. The demonstrate the obvious tensions between NPHET and also the chief medical officer and the HSE.”

Mr Kelly continued: “In particular, the decision on April 17th to announce the capacity to test 15,000 people a day or 100,000 a week which the HSE clearly knew they couldn’t deliver, and had taken the Government through a plan on what they could and would do.

What the letters show is that denials by the Government and NPHET of tensions over governance, and the testing target that was publicly set on Friday 17th April, were false.

“The letters show that as early as March 23 concerns had been raised by the board of the HSE about statutory governance as documented in a letter from Paul Reid to the Secretary General of the Department of Health.

“Letters from 19th April and 20th April clearly show that plans and procedures to deliver 100,000 tests a week were not in place when it was first announced by NPHET on 17th April, and that the position on testing and tracing capacity were to be confirmed by Friday 24th April.”

The Health Minister denied the letters were "explosive" saying there are always tensions between officials.

Simon Harris said: “You were right about the minutes of the meetings that are being held, they should be published and they are being published.

“I don’t think the letters are explosive – I think what the letters show is people working extremely hard. I said on the Saturday at a press conference that of course there are tensions. I have been Minister for health for four years, you have sat in Cabinet. When has there never been back and forth between officials working their backside off trying to work in a global pandemic to save people’s lives?

“There are letters that should not be selectively quoted from – there are letters where the chairman of the HSE writes to the Secretary General conveying his admiration for the handling of the crisis.

“I am very satisfied that the NPHET is working extremely well with the HSE – I don’t think we have ever had better leadership in the health service than we have had since Paul Reid (HSE chief executive) took over.”