The HSE has defended its role in overseeing expenditure at Positive Action, the hepatitis C support group at the centre of controversy over its spending on various items. In an appendix to a report by the HSE’s internal audit team, it said many issues raised in the audit were not “visible to the HSE” and that “at every attempt by [it] to apply improved governance and transparency, Positive Action Ltd strongly resisted and frustrated these attempts”.
The HSE said it first sought more detailed information from Positive Action in 2006, having started to fund the organisation in 2004 (it had previously been funded by the Department of Health).
The HSE said that in 2008, it started implementing the introduction of a set of standardised governance documents drawn up by the HSE for it and other organisations funded in the same way. However, the HSE said Positive Action had “very strongly resisted” signing the documentation, although it said the organisation did sign an adapted version of the agreement “on the understanding that they would be required to sign up to the full documentation in the future”.
“Getting Positive Action Ltd to this stage was viewed in the HSE as an achievement, given their protracted and strong resistance.”
It began applying reductions in Positive Action’s funding in 2010 in line with similar reductions being applied to the voluntary sector and requested further information from the organisation in 2011.
This, it said, eventually led to Positive Action bringing a judicial review against the HSE. Positive Action, which it lost the case, however, while the case was ongoing, the HSE said it was “restricted in any attempts to curtail [Positive Action’s] expenditure”. It said “repeated behaviour by Positive Action Ltd to regularly frustrate and obstruct progress was, regrettably, a key feature in our relationship with this organisation over many years”.
The auditors concluded that the organisation’s resistance to meeting the HSE’s standard accountability resulted in “additional unnecessary expenditure of public funds”.
The note added that the group had “often disregarded instruction” from the HSE it in relation to their attendance at international conferences and holding members’ weekends.
Documents obtained separately by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act detail an argument between the organisation and the HSE over the funding for what the HSE described as a "pampering weekend" but which Positive Action described as a "weekend conference" in February 2012.
The documents show the HSE criticised the organisation for spending €12,848 on the event when the group had been formally requested not to incur expenditure on discretionary items.
However, Positive Action denied it was restricted in spending this money, saying the funds had come from its approved funding for 2011.
In a response to the HSE audit , a former director of Positive Action said the “relaxation weekend” was not cancelled because this would still have resulted in the organisation paying the full hotel costs as required under its cancellation policy, adding that “the HSE was informed of this position”.