Hand sanitiser recall: Who are ViraPro?

A stationery company that made just €53,000 in profit in 2018 still managed to secure a contract worth €9.2m from the HSE

Virapro hand cleanser gel at the Belfast Trust in the grounds of Belfast City Hospital.

A stationery company ordered to recall 3m units of a sanitiser it had delivered to the HSE made just €53,000 in profit in 2018, yet still managed to secure a contract worth €9.2m from the HSE.

PFG Brand Attraction Europe Limited, a company of 15 employees based out of Kilbarrack in north Dublin, earned €53,693 in profit after tax in 2018, the most recent year for which it had filed accounts.

The company, trading as Portfolio Group, was ordered to recall its ViraPro sanitising products by the Department of Agriculture, the licensing body, after it emerged the products contained methanol — a substance that is highly toxic to humans.

ViraPro was registered as a trading name on April 24, 2020, three weeks after the HSE contract was secured without tender. Standard tender procurement generally requires a company to satisfy minimum levels of turnover and insurance cover in order to qualify.

Portfolio Group, which has 16 separate trading names, is the business of the McMullan family, three of whom are listed as its directors. First founded in 1991, it did not become incorporated until 2017.

Primarily a stationery provider, its largest imprint prior to the HSE sanitiser contract was a €400,000 deal it secured with Horse Racing Ireland for the supply of trophies and promotional materials in April 2019.

In September 2019, the company was awarded a contract worth €21,000 by the HSE to supply promotional materials for a border-region community health project.