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18th May 2021

Chief Clinical Officer says HSE cannot guarantee staff will be paid this week after cyber attack

Stephen Porzio

Covid cases Ireland November 2021

“We’re hopeful we’ll have contingency plans in place to allow staff to be paid.”

The HSE’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry has said the HSE is “hopeful” it will be able to pay its staff this week but is “not in a position to guarantee” it will happen.

His comments come five days after the HSE was the victim of a cyber attack that forced the health service to shut down its IT system, causing major disruptions to health services across the country.

Asked on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland how HSE staff payroll has been affected by the cyber attack and if staff will be paid when they are due to be on Thursday, Dr Henry responded: “All systems in the HSE were affected and the response of the HSE to close down IT systems affected not just clinical care, but every aspect of HSE management, including staff management of pay.

“We’re hopeful we’ll have contingency plans in place to allow staff to be paid.”

However, he added: “As with everything else, we’re still early in this crisis… As regards pay, we’re developing contingency plans this week to ensure staff are paid on time.

“[At] this stage, I’m not in a position to guarantee that any of those contingency plans will be absolutely in place by Thursday.

“But I can assure anybody who’s worried that we’re working flat out to try and restore that and to develop back our plans.”

The cyber attack has been described as possibly the most significant cybercrime attack on the Irish state by Minister of State for eGovernment Ossian Smyth.

Both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and HSE CEO Paul Reid have said a ransom will not be paid to the perpetrators of the attack.

The Department of Health was also the target of a cyber attack, though this attack is reported to have been “unsuccessful”.

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