HSE paid out €7,000 on directory scam

Date Published: 04-Aug-2011

By Denise McNamara

The staffer who signed off on a city directory scam which cost the HSE West €7,000 should be ordered to repay the money, the Chairman of HSE West Forum has insisted.

The con was uncovered only after three years following an internal audit which began after a manager queried an unsolicited invoice from the company based in Spain which claims to produce an online directory.

The cost of the inclusion in the guide of Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, St Brigid’s Hospital in Ballinasloe and University Hospital Galway for three years up to 2008 was a whopping €7,000.

It subsequently emerged that the guide which had been signed up for did not even exist. The scam is well known for targeting small and medium-sized businesses and sole traders and was highlighted during the National Consumer Agency’s ‘Be Scam Savvy’ campaign.

Following the audit, the HSE issued a number of recommendations in order to avoid falling victim to similar fraud.

Chairman of the HSE West regional health forum, Cllr Padraig Conneely said the scam showed how lax the organisation’s internal audit system.

“The management structures in the HSE are obviously faulty if this could go undetected for three years costing the taxpayer €7,000,” he fumed.

“I’m wondering how much of this goes on and is swept under the carpet. This wouldn’t have been revealed only that it was leaked to the media. Some fool signed up to this but didn’t go to the bother of checking the company, again because it’s public funds and who cares?”

He called on the HSE to insist that the money be repaid by the staffer responsible.

“Is anybody going to be rapped on the knuckles for that decision and be made accountable? I am demanding that the €7,000 be paid back by that person, otherwise there will be never be any checks and balances.”

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.