Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2026
840. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health whether she has satisfied herself that the commitment given by the Health Service Executive in its direct reply of 14 October 2025 to publish purchase order payment data for the period 2014 to Quarter 3 2021 in a machine-readable format has been fulfilled; and if not, the action that has been taken by her Department to secure publication of the data. [47671/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Health Service Executive indicates that they publish the most recent Purchase Order data, but have difficulties in producing accurate historic data as follows:
“The Health Service Executive (HSE) acknowledges that the purchase order reports referred to in Parliamentary Question No.889 of 30 September 2025 have not been published. Accordingly, there is no web link or publication date that can be provided at this time.
As previously advised, the HSE commenced a review of relevant historical financial files covering the period from 2014 to Quarter 3 of 2021 with a view to determining whether purchase order payment data over €100,000 could be extracted and published in a machine-readable format. This work has proven significantly more complex and resource intensive than originally anticipated. The historical data predates the current reporting arrangements and is held across a number of legacy financial systems. As a result, identifying and validating the associated records requires substantial manual review to ensure the accuracy and completeness of any information published.
The HSE is committed to ensuring that any financial information released into the public domain is accurate and reliable. Given the age of the records involved, there are also practical challenges associated with historical record retention and the availability of supporting documentation required to validate the extracted data. The work required to retrospectively reconstruct and validate historical data must also be balanced against competing operational and financial reporting priorities. Consequently, the HSE is not in a position to confirm a revised publication date at this time.
Separately, the HSE is progressing a significant Finance Reform Programme, including the implementation of a modern, integrated financial management system. This replaces multiple legacy financial systems with a single standardised platform, improving the consistency, accessibility and reporting capability of financial information, which will support more streamlined publication of financial data in the future.
The HSE upholds transparency in financial reporting; however, it cannot commit to the publication of retrospective data or to a revised publication date. Any decision in this regard will be informed by the extent to which the historical information can be satisfactorily validated and whether the work required represents an appropriate use of public resources. The most recent purchase order data is available on the HSE website and is updated on a quarterly basis in line with established reporting arrangements.”
