Medical supplies company denies it held HSE to ransom over patient data

PMD Solutions CEO Myles Murray at the company's premises at Bishopstown, Cork, in 2013.  The judge allowed Mr Murray to address the court, despite his not being allowed under law to represent the company — only a solicitor or barrister can do this, he noted. Mr Murray said the company did not have funds to pay for legal representation. Picture: Dan Linehan

A Cork-based medical supplies company has strongly denied that it held the HSE to ransom by seeking over €145,000 to “maintain the integrity” of sensitive patient data and threatening to sell it, a claim made by the executive in its High Court action against the firm.

PMD Device Solutions Ltd CEO Myles Murray told Mr Justice Brian Cregan on Monday that the data in question was not the company’s to sell, and that he or the company never threatened to do so in its dealings with the HSE. He said the company was “managing” the patient data in question on behalf of the HSE, and it was not the company’s asset.