The chief executive of the Mid-Western Health Board, Mr Stíofán de Búrca, has received assurances from the Department of Health that it will not investigate how his board ended 2003 with a €13.5 million surplus.
Mr de Búrca was given the assurance when he met Department of Health officials to discuss his board's spending plans for 2004.
There were reports a week ago that the Department planned to inquire into the surplus at his board and two others - the Western and South Eastern Health boards. At that time Mr de Búrca criticised the plan and claimed his board's surplus was the direct result of compliance with Department policy, and the fact that the Department only issued it with €6 million of the surplus in December, when it was too late to spend it.
He said yesterday his meeting with Department officials on Monday was "businesslike and constructive". He said the Department fully appreciated the board's position on its surplus and there was no question of any investigation being conducted.
The money will be carried forward to this year and used to fund new services.
While the Department does not plan to investigate why monies went unspent at a time when services had to be cut back due to lack of funding, the joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children plans to inquire into the matter next week.
The Western Health Board surplus was €15 million and the SEHB one €6 million.
The chairman of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, Mr John Perry, has said he may call the secretary general of the Department before his committee to explain the Department's role in the whole affair.