A Department of Health whistleblower has cast doubt on 515m of additional funding given to the HSE during the first year of the pandemic, saying it is unclear if the money was ever needed.

The whistleblower, a Department of Health employee, has claimed there are gaping holes in the financial reporting in respect of hundreds of millions of euros poured into the health service.

They have documented an internal Department meeting in June of last year — to scrutinise the 2020 supplementary budget for the health service — describing it as “extraordinary” that the Department of Health was unsure if the additional 514.5m had been necessary.

The whistleblower alleges the Department had neither asked the HSE to account for what the 514.5m was needed for, nor whether the money had actually been used for that purpose.

A transcript of an internal meeting alleges that a Department resources manager said: “At some point, DPER (the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform) will ask us, and say you wanted 560m - or whatever it was - so much for Winter Plan, so much for Covid, so much for this - and now you’re saying you didn’t need it, so why did you take it?”

“What did you do with the money?” the manager allegedly added.

Asked for comment, the HSE said it is “unaware of these claims and has no comment to make on them”.

A second disclosure from the whistleblower concerns allegations that the 73m Temporary Assistance Payments Scheme (TAPS) was being used to purchase ‘One for All’...

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