PAC wants to question Watt ‘to get to the bottom of NCH costs’

THE Dáil’s public spending watchdog is seeking to haul senior civil servant Robert Watt in for a grilling on the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) cost overrun.

Mr Watt, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) secretary general, refused a previous invitation to the Health Committee.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will also invite another senior DPER official, Paul Quinn, who also sits on the board of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board.

Labour TD Alan Kelly said it was “absolutely necessary” that both officials attend the PAC so it could get to the bottom of what happened. There have been claims that Mr Quinn was obliged to tell his department of the cost overruns under the terms of a 2010 government circular.

Last night, a DPER statement said neither had yet received a formal invite.