HSE squander over €7m of taxpayers’ money for not paying their bills on time – Mark Ward TD
9 April 2025
Sinn Féin TD for Dublin Mid-West, Mark Ward TD, has today criticised the government for the continued failure to address the scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money by the HSE, whose late fee payments now amount to over €7m since 2022.
The Dublin Mid-West TD first raised this in the Dáil in October 2024 when the figure was more than €4m for 2022 and 2023.
Now further figures obtained by Deputy Ward in a response to a Parliamentary Question show that the HSE squandered an additional €2.789m in late fee payments in 2024, and €382,000 in the first two months of 2025.
Teachta Ward said:
“Time and time again, we see a new headline of government wasting public money. Today is yet another example.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s hands-off approach to how taxpayers’ money is spent is a scandal.
“In the dying days of the last government, we had the drip-feed of shocking levels of waste – €336,000 on a bike shed, €500,000 on private jet flights for Simon Harris, €1.4m on a security hut, €9m on phone pouches, and the biggest one of all, the €1.5 billion overspend on the Children’s Hospital.
“Already this year, we have learnt of the €490,000 spent on a perimeter wall at the WRC, and €7m wasted by the Arts Council on a failed IT project.
“Now we learn, through a response I received to a Parliamentary Question, that the HSE have spent €7.18m in ‘prompt payment interest and compensation’ fees since 2022.
“These are basically fines that the HSE is charged with for not paying their bills on time.
“I raised this in the Dáil in October, and it appears that no action has been taken by the government since.
“Figures for February indicate that almost €400,000 have already been paid out this year for late payments.
“The government needs to act on this, the Minister for health needs to put a system in place that would stop the HSE from haemorrhaging public money in this way.
“We have seen recruitment embargoes in the health service, shameful waiting lists and patients missing out on vital treatments due to lack of investment. Yet there appears to be no issue in the HSE flushing €7m down the toilet.
“€7m not spent on anything. How can any Minister stand over this? Public trust for government spending is at an all-time low because there is zero accountability.
“People have seen how the government can move mountains to give themselves pay rises, but nothing is done when they are misspending public tax money.
“The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, must put in place proper governance measures to ensure the waste of public money by the HSE is stopped.”
The response to Deputy Ward’s Parliamentary Question can be read here.
