RTÉ Investigations Unit has revealed that some senior members of hospital staff were in receipt of expensive holidays and gifts from a supplier, in breach of their rules of employment.
The report shows some purchasing officers passed on commercially sensitive information to a medical supplies company which included competitors price lists.
Three individuals are featured in the report who co-ordinate the purchasing of medical and other goods for St Vincent's University Hospital and the Beacon Hospital in Dublin with Eurosurgical Limited, a large surgical supplies firm, also based in Dublin.
The report further states that allegations made by a whistleblower regarding Eurosurgical Limited were passed on to gardaí over a year ago.
Minister for Health Leo Varadkar and the Health Service Executive were subsequently informed.
In a statement to RTÉ News, a spokesperson for St Vincent's University Hospital said that it had set up an internal investigation team to examine the allegations.
It also said that two employees were off duty with pay and would not return to duty while the investigation is under way.
The Department of Health has said in a statement that the "two hospitals mentioned in the programme last night are not HSE hospitals. The Beacon is a private hospital and St Vincent's is a privately owned institution with its own board of management."
A spokesperson for the HSE also said that no service or facility by the health service was mentioned in tonight’s report.
