Roqu chief withdraws from speaking engagement at National Health Summit

HSE chief Paul Reid is among those speaking at the National Health Summit. Photo: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

The CEO of a company which was paid €10 million by the HSE to import ventilators from China which were never used has withdrawn from a speaking engagement shared by the head of the HSE today.

Robert Quirke, the owner and chief executive of Roqu Group, had been due to address the National Health Summit for ten minutes this morning regarding his venture Health Passport Europe but his slot has been removed.

Mr Quirke had also been due to take part in a panel discussion regarding the future for life after Covid, but his place was taken by a specialist in public health medicine with the HSE.

Earlier this morning Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly gave the opening address for the virtual summit, which is in its 17th year.

HSE CEO Paul Reid was later interviewed remotely at the event, hosted by RTÉ presenter Audrey Carville.

Mr Quirke’s Health Passport Europe venture is still listed as a ‘gold’ sponsor of the event.

The Irish Examiner queried both Mr Quirke and Business Post Events, the organisers of the summit, as to why his speaking slot has been removed.

A spokesman for Mr Quirke said: “Robert Quirke had been scheduled to speak at the National Health Summit, however, work commitments meant he was unable to take part. Health Passport Europe remains a proud sponsor of the National Health Summit.” Business Post Events did not respond..

Last week the Irish Examiner reported that Mr Quirke had been due to attend the online event together with Mr Donnelly and Mr Reid, and had asked both of the latter whether or not it would be appropriate for them to speak at the same event as a company which is in discussion with the HSE over contractual obligations.

Speaking at the HSE’s weekly media briefing Mr Reid had said that he would “look at” the fact he had been due to address the same event as Mr Quirke but said he hadn’t “looked much further ahead into early next week in terms of commitments”.

This is the third year in a row in which Mr Reid will address the €125-per-ticket summit.

In March 2020, as global pressure for the acquisition of ventilator capacity intensified, Mr Quirke offered the services of Roqu Media International, a company he founded with experience of managing music festivals in the Middle East, to procure 1,000 such devices from China at a cost of €35m.

The HSE paid Roqu €14.1m and received a refund of €3.8m after 72 devices were delivered, by the end of April. The delivered ventilators did not pass minimum quality standards and were never clinically deployed.