The HSE told the Public Accounts Committee that abolishing private practice in public hospitals will cost around €140 million this year.
The HSE's Acting Chief Financial Officer Michael Lane said to understand the HSE's deficit it is important to look at "the policy change in private income".
"That's a significant loss in income to us this year. Structurally, we are going to have to rebalance that and we are going to have to find a way without that income," he said.
Mr Lane said it is "probably a loss of around €140 million to us this year".
The committee earlier heard that the HSE incurred charges of €8.4 million for Covid vaccines in 2025 that had reached their expiry dates or were determined to no longer be clinically suitable for use, along with €1.5m for stocks of legacy and obsolete PPE.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
A further €6.7m was incurred by HSE in 2025 to dispose of this obsolete stock.
The Health Service Executive expects to remain in a "significant deficit" position at the end of this year.
HSE Chief Executive Anne O'Connor said its financial statements last year "reflect a year of significant challenge and change".
The HSE's financial statements report a deficit of €1 billion, including the 2024 deficit brought forward.
Ms O'Connor has outlined the "ongoing operational and financial challenges facing the HSE".
The HSE said it is also regulating high payments made to its consultants, noting that "many of the reasons for high-value payments" was for additional work carried out by consultants in areas where there are "resource challenges".
Ms O'Connor noted "a number of issues" relating to management and storage of paper-based records.
An investigation by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) into the storage of paper records by the HSE has found incidents of documents contaminated by animal droppings, destroyed by mould, covered in rubble, or rotting due to water damage.
It imposed fines of €645,000 on the HSE for the breaches and has also issued corrective orders.
The committee also heard the top 10 earners in the HSE received a combined €6.8 million in 2025.
The highest earner received almost €910,000 in total remuneration for the year, of which more than €616,000 was recorded as payments for additional work.
Fine Gael TD James Geoghegan said the HSE "doesn't even know where it is going in terms of reducing a deficit".
"You don't even have a target," he said.
The Public Account Committee's chairperson John Brady raised the issue of money not being recouped by private health insurance claims not being signed off on.
The committee has previously called for a streamlined approach for resolving the issue, so it is not up to each individual hospital.
Mr Brady said it was "staggering" that €78m had been written off over the last six years and that the primary reason was "consultants not "signing a form".
The HSE's Acting Chief Financial Officer Michael Lane said in some cases they are "correctly rejected by the insurer because they weren't covered".
He said the primary reasons for write-offs is the rejection of claims.
Additional reporting PA
