The HSE has refused to release under FOI the full details of an audit it carried out in 2012 into the financial management of a north Dublin homecare firm.

The health executive told irishhealth.com the audit report and related documentation could not be released as, arising from the findings of the internal audit, an investigation was commissioned by the firm, Fingal Home Care, resulting in the board of the company forwarding the investigation report to the Gardai.

The HSE added that as a Garda investigation was ongoing and because there were allegations relating to a person  who is and was closely identified with Fingal Home Care, it had decided that it would not be in the public interest to release the documentation, or any part thereof, at this time 'on the basis that the report and other relevant documentation could potentially have an impact on any potential criminal or civil prosecution'.

It added that the public interest was best served by refusing irishhealth.com's request for the audit report.

A summary of the audit report findings on Fingal Home Care, which appeared recently in a separate HSE report on financial controls in the health service, first revealed on irishhealth.com, detailed pay and other financial irregularities at the company, which admitted, in its own accounts, that it suffered a 'breakdown of financial controls' around 2011-2012.

Fingal Home Care has since moved to reassure its clients and staff that the firm is now on a secure financial footing and that the serious financial issues that emerged in 2012 have been dealt with.

The company says it has since been through a major restructuring that is now complete and has now returned to a trading profit.

Some of the findings of the HSE audit report on the north Dublin home care firm were also revealed on a recent Prime Time programme on RTE.