Coronavirus: Former health trust boss warns of ‘rip-off’ as Swann tries to calm fears over Chinese PPE deal

Pat McCartan, a former chairman of the Belfast Health Trust, said that Northern Ireland trying to purchase goods alone on the world stage is simply “too small” to get a good bargain.

He was speaking prior to today’s question and answer session at Stormont, which saw Health Minister Robin Swann attempt to address some of the worries about the mooted China deal.

The story first emerged on the Nolan Show last week, when the BBC said it had obtained leaked documentation about a proposed supply route from China.

In the documentation, a top civil servant voiced serious disquiet about any such deal, saying over a third of the PPE supplied as part of a recent shipment from China to Ireland had turned out to be useless.

The Nolan story indicated the deal was worth £170m (including a deposit of £60m) and was between a Chinese state firm and Stormont’s health and finance departments.

It led to questions about why Northern Ireland would go outside the existing UK system, which has seen the London government shipping supplies into the Province.

Mr McCartan questioned the wisdom of NI bidding separately from the UK as a whole.

“It does make sense to go with the bigger clout,” he said.

“You’re bidding against the US and India. We [Northern Ireland] can’t win that. We’re too small ...

“I think at the moment we should be working on the UK model. I don’t think there’s any other avenue really realistically open to us.”

Going it alone would put NI at risk of being “exploited financially”.

He also questioned the £60m upfront payment, saying: “The amount of money, putting it up front, is not commensurate with the risks: being further delayed, or getting the wrong material, or finding that we’re part of a rip-off.”

Mr Swann was quizzed about the deal in the Assembly by TUV MLA Jim Allister today.

Mr Swann replied: “In regards to the order from China or wherever else, the member will be very clear from my statement, I will accept PPE and will get PPE from wherever we need it.”

He said policy on PPE is based on “three pillars” – international (“which includes our supply from China”), national (“which is our support from the UK”), and local (meaning Ulster-based manufacturers).

Moving to allay fears over the quality of the goods from the Far East, he said the route which the Department of Finance is using “is embedded with the British embassy in China”.

He also said that he is working “in conjunction with the UK government and the other [UK] nations to secure that supply of PPE”.

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