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Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue has said preliminary tests on the hand sanitizer that was withdrawn from schools only Thursday night showed two weeks ago that it did not meet compliance standards.
The Department of Education has separately said it knew that a variety of hand sanitizers used in schools had been recalled due to public health concerns on Tuesday, two days before alerting schools.
However, the department said it had only been alerted by phone, not formally, by the Department of Agriculture about problems with the disinfectant.
“The Educational Procurement Service sought an update on Wednesday and it was indicated that a formal notification would be provided as soon as possible,” he said.
At the Dáil, Mr. McConalogue said preliminary tests had indicated, on October 8, that the disinfectant did not meet the standards and was then removed by his department eight days later. He said he first learned about the issue on Thursday.
“Having reviewed the matter today, I am very clear that it would have been much more appropriate for my department to have followed up with a public notice and communications with other government departments immediately after issuing the recall notice to the company on October 16.” said Mr. McConalogue.
The product contains methanol instead of ethanol and prolonged use can cause dermatitis, irritation and headaches.
Virapro was supplied to both HSE and schools by Irish distributor PFG Brand Attraction EU Ltd, which is listed as the Portfolio Group. The company also owns and markets it as Virapro, which is manufactured in Turkey. In addition to disinfectant, the company also distributes masks, visors and gloves.
The Education Department said the vendor and all of its products “were removed from the education sector procurement deal on Thursday.”
The HSE confirmed to which entered into a purchasing agreement with PFG Brand Attraction EU Ltd earlier this year for the supply of alcohol hand gel, hand sanitizer gel and hand sanitizer.
Freedom of information documents seen by this newspaper detailing HSE’s Covid-19 expenses show that it paid PFG Brand Attraction EU Ltd € 9,160,046 from February to April this year.
HSE did not respond to inquiries about how much of this expense relates to the recalled hand sanitizer.
Late in the evening, the Department of Agriculture issued a statement in which it said that during its investigation on the disinfectant issue it was discovered that several other Virapro brand medical devices were not on the Department’s approved list for biocides.
“The company in question has been advised to withdraw all these products from the market. Therefore, the Department advises, on a preventive basis, that all medical devices in the Virapro range must be returned to the supplier.
The public is advised to stop using these products because they are not authorized for use, “he said.
Meanwhile, Cillian de Gascun has said that the temporary closure of the National Virus Reference Laboratory “will have no impact” on Covid’s testing capacity. Dr. de Gascun, who is head of the lab, said that several staff members are now self-isolating and as a result, the lab will close both this weekend and next.
“All medical devices containing biocides must have a clearly visible PCS or an IE / BPA or EU number on the label.”
On Friday, another seven deaths related to the coronavirus and 777 new cases of the disease were notified to the Health Department.
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