HSE incurred 8.4m euro in charges for Covid vaccines that cannot be used

The HSE incurred charges of 8.4 million euro for Covid vaccines in 2025 that had reached their expiry dates or were determined to no longer be clinically suitable for use, along with 1.5 million euro for stocks of legacy and obsolete PPE.

A further 6.7 million euro was incurred by HSE in 2025 to dispose of this obsolete stock, Cathaoirleach John Brady told the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday.

The HSE had a total expenditure of 30.4 billion euro last year, up 7% from 28.3 billion euro in 2024, Mr Brady said.

The HSE’s financial statements report a deficit of 1 billion euro, but this includes the 2024 deficit brought forward, according to HSE chief executive Anne O’Connor.

Excluding the prior year’s deficit, the underlying deficit incurred during 2025 was around 240 million euro, representing less than 1% of overall income, she said.

The financial statements reflect a year of significant challenge and change for the health service, Ms O’Connor said.

“Demand for health and social care services continued to grow, reflecting Ireland’s population of approximately 5.5 million people, with particularly strong growth in older age groups and increasing levels of complexity across the services we provide,” she said.

“Notwithstanding these challenges, the health service continued to deliver substantial levels of activity during 2025, including over 1.6 million emergency department attendances, over 25 million home support hours, significant increases in community-based services, and the treatment of record numbers of patients across many service areas.”

The committee also heard the top 10 earners in the HSE received a combined 6.8 million euro in 2025.

The highest earner received almost 910,000 euro in total remuneration for the year, of which more than 616,000 euro was recorded as payments for additional work, Mr Brady told the committee.