The High Court has ordered Mater Private to disclose financial records sought by the Health Service Executive in a dispute over €6.629 million claimed under an agreement made during the Covid-19 pandemic. It refused Mater Private’s separate request for HSE documents about the decision to withhold payment.
The ruling, delivered by Mr Justice Tony Hunt on 19 March 2021, resolved pre-trial discovery applications by both sides. It did not decide whether the HSE owes the money.
Mater Private says the HSE breached the agreement by withholding a scheduled payment on 19 June 2020. The claim comprises €4.614 million for a June week-four payment and a €2.015 million May balancing payment. The HSE denies that the sums were properly due under the agreement.
The agreement, signed on 3 April 2020, provided for Mater Private to make hospital services and facilities available to the HSE for public patients. In return, the HSE agreed to reimburse qualifying operational costs on an open-book basis. The judge said the eventual trial would turn on what services were supplied, how the agreement’s cost provisions apply, and what costs—if any—are recoverable.
Mater Private sought five categories of HSE records, including documents about claimed funding and infrastructure costs, information supplied under the agreement, and the HSE’s decision not to pay. Its counsel argued that the records could clarify how the HSE reached that decision. The HSE submitted that its internal reasoning was not relevant to the objective question of whether the contract required payment.
The judge refused Mater Private’s application. He found that HSE officials’ views and the process behind the decision would not help determine whether withholding payment was justified under the contract and the facts established at trial. He also said later correspondence and pleadings had made the HSE’s reasons sufficiently clear.
The HSE sought records concerning related-company and syndicated loans, the acquisition of the Mater group, refinancing, and the use of loan funds. It argued those materials were needed to assess whether claimed costs were operational, actually incurred, and within the agreement. Mater Private objected that the financial issues were outside the pleadings and raised confidentiality concerns.
The judge found the HSE’s request relevant and necessary in light of the defence, which disputed the recoverability of costs including interest and depreciation. He ordered discovery by Mater Private in the terms set out in the HSE’s written submissions. He said the documents could be used only for the litigation and left open the possibility of further protections for commercially sensitive information after delivery of the discovery affidavit.
The judge proposed reserving the HSE’s costs on both applications to the trial judge, with no order for Mater Private’s costs. He said he would hear further submissions if requested on costs or the final details of the orders. He also suggested the parties consider alternative dispute resolution after discovery.