Irish Examiner view: Paul Reid’s exit heaps more woe on HSE

Reid was appointed as chief executive of the HSE in May 2019 but within six months unwittingly became one of Ireland’s prime defenders against the deadly threat of Covid-19

HSE CEO Paul Reid with then-health minister Simon Harris and taoiseach Leo Varadkar, visiting the Covid-19 Community Assessment Hub in DCU Collins Avenue in April 2020. File picture: Leon Farrell

The tributes paid to soon-to-retire HSE chief Paul Reid yesterday were wholehearted, but Mr Reid’s decision leaves many questions about the future of the organisation he led so well and the Irish health service in general, as well as the inability of the sector to hold on to top officials.

Mr Reid was appointed as chief executive of the HSE in May 2019 but within six months of a tenure that was supposed to see him overseeing radical reforms of the health system, he unwittingly became one of Ireland’s prime defenders against the deadly threat of Covid-19 and, in the middle of that, in May 2021, he also had to deal with a ransomware cyberattack on the HSE that crippled essential systems.