Management consultants and the HSE

Sir, – Paul Cullen reports on an estimated HSE spend of €120 million to €180 million on outside consultants. Bernard Gloster, the HSE’s chief executive, acknowledges that this is extraordinary (News, May 25th).

He may be right. But what I think extraordinary is that this is an estimate of expenditure not for 2023 or 2024 but rather for 2022.

We have all learned to our great cost that the HSE cannot budget for future expenditures. But it really is a bit rich that, five months after the end of the year, the best it can do in “estimating” last year’s expenditure in one area is to say that it was more than €120 million and less than €180 million. – Yours, etc,

PAT O’BRIEN,

Matt Williams: Ross Byrne rising to Leinster challenge could help Ireland hit heights in South Africa

---

The Movie Quiz: Which Irish seaside town features a statue of Richard Harris?

---

‘Jesus Christ, the doors are locked’: The full story of the Stardust fire, with new testimony

---

Family affairs: How Ireland’s newly rich are putting money to work in secretive firms

---

Rathmines,

Dublin 6.