Mayo pensioner appointed to €1m. HSE contract in error

A RETIRED Mayo elected representative has been issued with a letter of apology by the HSE over an astonishing administration error.

Octogenarian Johnny Mee, a former member of Mayo County Council and Castlebar Town Council, had received correspondence from the health authority confirming it had notified Revenue that he had been appointed a sub-contractor in the construction of a €1 million development at Cork University Hospital.

The official letter, dated June 29, 2022, was accompanied by a Relevant Contracts Tax (RCT) Notice under Section 5301 Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.

Mr. Mee, who resides at St. Bridget’s Crescent in Castlebar, was convinced that a prankster or scam artist was responsible for the letters.

But his perception changed on July 8 when he got a further official notice from the same department of the HSE notifying him of his income tax registration details for the contract.

“At that point I realised that the letters were actually genuine, but that somebody within the HSE was making a big mistake.

“I also began to suspect that the proper contractor selected to the job must be left wondering why his paperwork had been delayed in arriving,” he explained.

It took a telephone call to the HSE to inform the authority that Mr. Mee had been erroneously appointed to the major contract.

The saga was brought to an end on July 12 when the former Labour Party councillor and six-time Mayor of Castlebar was furnished with a ‘cancelled contract notification acknowledgement’ from a different sector of the HSE.

The notice cited ‘a similarity in tax reference numbers’ as the reason for the error. This letter included a 'sincere apology'.

“I can look back now and have a little laugh about it. But who could believe that this kind of thing can happen or is happening?” he added.

Mr. Mee spoke about the issue on the Joe Duffy Show on RTÉ One Radio today and you can listen to the interview here.