State paid 'astronomical' €915m for PPE in 2020

Pictured in April 2020 is Prof Martin Cormican, National Lead for Infection Control and Antimicrobial Resistance, HSE, displaying some of the PPE equipment sourced from China. Picture: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland.

The state had to pay “an astronomical” €915 million to obtain personal protection equipment (PPE) last year in the fight against Covid-19, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

For the first time, the true scale of the hugely inflated spend on PPE is revealed with three companies earning between €226 million and €102 million and another 11 companies earning between €50 million and €10 million from the Irish government.