Sinn Féin spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, Mairéad Farrell TD, said questions need to be answered, following a report in the Journal.ie that the HSE provided €21.6 million to a company owned by the University of Limerick.

According to the Journal.ie, this payment was for assisting with the recruitment of administrative between January 2022 and June 2023, however the HSE were unable to say how many staff were recruited.
 
Speaking today, Teachta Farrell stated:
 
“There is no question that €21.6 million a huge sum of money. What I find strange is not merely the size of this sum of money, but that this was for the recruitment of administrative staff, rather than say specialist clinical placements.
 
“Given the potential to use websites like Publicjobs.ie and Irishjobs.ie, which often have free or low-cost advertising/recruitment services, it’s hard to get your head around the size of the cost, and I think it’s imperative that we see some detail in relation to these transactions.
 
“The fact that the HSE could not state how many administrative staff were brought in via this recruitment process raises further questions.
 
“Lastly, given that Limerick has had its well documented troubles with purchasing properties that were significantly above market value, which is currently the subject of a Garda investigation, I have written to both Ministers O’Donovan and Donnelly in relation to this more recent issue to seek further details.”