Conflict of interest fears over firm probing overspend

THE consultancy firm appointed to find out how the new national children’s hospital has become the most expensive in the world has had a long-standing relationship with the firm building the hospital, one that is worth tens of million of euro, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) were the auditors for the Dutch-based BAM group of companies for nine years, and during this time, they earned an estimated €4m a year in fees.

And in addition to earning approximately €30m for overseeing and signing-off on the firm’s accounts, PwC was also paid hundreds of thousands more, providing the BAM group with additional financial advice.The revelations come as Health Minister Simon Harris prepares to make his second appearance before the Dáil’s Health Committee next Wednesday about the escalating costs of building the 422-bed hospital, now expected to surpass €2bn. Last night, Sinn Féin’s Health spokeswoman Louise O’Reilly insisted PwC has questions to answer on an apparent conflict of interest. PwC is being paid €450,000 by the Government to find out what led to costs for the new children’s hospital ballooning from €650m to €1.7bn. This weekend PwC refused to comment or answer any questions on this issue when contacted by the Irish Mail on Sunday, Meanwhile, a spokesman for the HSE said: ‘The HSE is satisfied that there are no conflicts of interest with regard to the review by PwC of the escalation of costs...’