Beaumont Hospital apologises for 'governance failures' amid €6.2m spend on firm run by its own staff

Company providing radiology services had 20 of Beaumont’s own staff as directors, which hospital claimed was 'value for money' 

Chief executive of Beaumont Hospital Anne Coyle arriving at the Public Accounts Committee hearing on Thursday morning. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins 

One of the country’s largest training hospitals has apologised “unreservedly” for its governance failures, but insisted €6.2m spent on radiology services from a company governed by its own staff was “value for money”.

The chief executive of Beaumont Hospital on Dublin’s northside told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) the €6.2m was to serve “patient need”.

The company in question had 20 of Beaumont’s own staff as directors, while only four of those had made declarations of that potential conflict of interest in their statement of interests in 2024.

Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) Seamus McCarthy had outlined to the committee €1.5m had been spent on the company in 2024.

Chief executive Anne Coyle, who had offered an “unreserved apology” to the PAC for the “historic control issues” outlined in the hospital’s 2024 accounts, acknowledged under questioning the expenditure on the radiology vendor had been €6.2m, and none of that spending had been subject to a public competition.

She also acknowledged no additional statements of interest regarding the firm had since been received by the remaining 16 Beaumont staff members, also on its board.

Asked by Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan what she was apologising for if she believed the €6.2m expenditure had been justified, Ms Coyle replied “governance failures”.

Beaumont incurred €17.9m in such non-compliant procurement in 2024, one of several issues highlighted by Mr McCarthy in his address to the committee.

Others included a €51.3m deficit in just two years between 2023 and 2024; insurance claims worth €413,000 which were either not collectable or disallowed; €704,000 worth of staff overpayments accumulated by 2024; and a new HR payroll system gone €2.8m over budget for a final spend of €4.8m.

That system was also procured without a public competition, Ms Coyle told the committee.

Of the matter of the payroll system overspend, the disclosure of which late into the hospital’s previous appearance at PAC in October 2025 had seen it harshly criticised, Ms Coyle said: “It was never the intention of the hospital to withhold information from the committee."

She added “in the spirit of transparency”, she was disclosing to the committee a further issue had been discovered during the hospital's self-audit in 2025 in terms of vendor misclassifications.

Director of finance at Beaumont, Fran Hanlon, said the issue was “absolutely” not material to the €169m spent on vendors in 2025, but said it was nevertheless not possible to put a value on the matter at present as it remained under consideration.

“I assure the committee that the board and the executive team of Beaumont Hospital are deeply committed to ensuring the hospital is managed responsibly and transparently,” Ms Coyle said.

“We recognise the trust placed in us to use public and donated funds prudently, and this responsibility guides every decision we make,” she added.

Mr Geoghegan noted three of the five hospitals subject to audit by Mr McCarthy — the others being St Vincent’s and St James’s, both in Dublin — have now come before the PAC to offer apologies for governance failures, “which does lead me to be concerned about what other governance failures are out there”.