HSE chief says it will 'not let up' in quest to recoup money for unused ventilators

HSE CEO, Paul Reid, said: “I saw my procurement team working 24/7, we took a risk-based approach. This was not a normal environment." Photo: Leah Farrell / Photocall Ireland

The head of the HSE has said the executive will “not be letting up” in its attempts to claim refunds on €81 million worth of Covid ventilators from China which were never used.

Paul Reid told a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee however that the purchase of those devices had to be set in the context of the time, March and April of 2020, when “we were dealing with harrowing images… we were looking at 40,000 deaths potentially”.