Varadkar unaware of political involvement in Covid-19 procurement
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: “I don’t personally recall any contact with that company.” Photo: Julien Behal/PA
The Tánaiste has told the Dáil he is not aware of any political involvement in the financial side of procurement for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Leo Varadkar, taking leaders questions this afternoon, was asked about the circumstances which led to festival management company Roqu Media International being given a €14.1 million contract for the importation of ventilators which turned out to be unusable.
Under questioning from Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shorthall regarding the Roqu transaction, Mr Varadkar stressed that the situation in February and March was “very pressurised” due to a lack of effective PPE and relevant equipment in Irish healthcare settings.
He said that “when it comes to contracts that’s done at an agency level, not political”.
“I don’t have any particular recollection of any contracts to do with ventilators,” he said, adding that he would have to “check my records”.
"I’d imagine that anything provided to anybody in a political role would have been passed on to the HSE as the relevant authority for procurement,” he said.
“I don’t personally recall any contact with that company.”
Mr Varadkar said that at the time the HSE and politicians were inundated with offers from people seeking to help out, and said that any such offers he would “pass onto the agencies”.
“I certainly wouldn’t have gotten involved in discussions around money. Perhaps others did, but nothing in my recollection,” he said.
Mr Varadkar said there had been a “rush on” to get ventilators and to get them quickly, adding that he personally had engaged with Medtronic, a major medical technology company based in the west of Ireland which had been exporting ventilators.
Social Democrats co-leader @RoisinShortall raises an interview HSE chief @paulreiddublin did on @thisweekrte which addressed a contract for ventilators worth €14m, which have apparently not been used. Tánaiste @LeoVaradkar says such contracts are not agreed at political level pic.twitter.com/wEDkho4Q8I
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 17, 2020
Regarding Health Passport Ireland, a further, more recent smartphone app developed by Roqu, Mr Varadkar was asked if he was aware of “serious concerns” expressed by the Irish Council of Civil Liberties in terms of data protection regarding both the app and the weekly testing of the entire population of Lecarrow, a village in Roscommon, another Roqu venture.
He replied that he had no recollection of same but “would have to check my records from the time”.
Ms Shortall asked that the Health Minister be consulted in order to provide an assurance “that everything is above board" regarding those projects, something the Tánaiste said he would do.
