Full coverage: Narooma

A Wicklow supply company claims it is €3.5 million out of pocket because the IDA induced the HSE to withdraw from a ventilator contract. The development authority has launched a full-blaze defence.

Ireland's agency for foreign direct investment is being blamed for the HSE's withdrawal from a contract to buy critical ventilators. The Irish medical supplies firm who lost out on the deal now wants the IDA to pay damages.

Having urgently signed a €7.5 million contract to buy ventilators on the night of the lockdown, the HSE cancelled the deal and allegedly sparked a garda investigation involving Interpol. Court proceedings followed but a recent ruling means the dispute will now continue behind closed doors.