New figures from the HSE show its total spending on the Covid-19 test and tracing last year was €280.48 million.
In 2020 the HSE carried out 2.4 million Covid-19 tests with the number reaching a peak in October when 450,162 tests were carried out.
Tipperary firm
A Co Tipperary firm Enfer was last year paid €122.4 million to process Covid-19 tests.
Enfer re-registered as an unlimited entity more than a decade ago and the level of profits it generates is not known. It is controlled by businessman Louis Ronan Snr.
Enfer - which has sponsored Tipperary GAA in the past - is based out of Clonmel and processed Covid-19 tests from its Kildare labs on behalf of the National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL).
The HSE figures show that the NVRL was last year paid €11.95 million for its central role in the testing regime, while lab company Eurofins Biomnis was paid €15 million to process Covid-19 tests in the lab.
Hospital testing
A further €40.73 million was paid out for ‘acute hospital testing’ while €52.55 million was spent on equipment and reagent.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the HSE confirmed that it spent a further €19 million on swabbing and referrals.
The spend on swabbing shows that €8.4 million was spent on the operational expenditure on test centres; €7.78 million on staff costs and €2.8 million on swabbing materials.
The HSE also spent €1.89 million on logistics and transport including air charter under the testing regime.
Contact tracing
The figures show that the HSE spent €9.33 million on contact tracing in 2020. A further €5.8 million was spent on costs concerning ‘test and trace’.
Across 290 days from March to the end of December, the HSE carried out an average of 8,283 Covid-19 tests per day and reached a high point in October when the daily average was 14,521.
PPE
Separately, the HSE FOI unit has confirmed that the value of orders made for Covid-19 PPE last year totalled €859 million.
In terms of Irish-based companies to benefit from this spending, the figures show that the HSE ordered €123 million in PPE from Ennis based company, EKO Integrated Services Ltd with orders for a further €61 million for PPE from Allphar Services Ltd and €39 million for PPE from Arco Safety Ltd.
