HSE accused of paying €2m to shelf company

THE Health Services Executive has been accused of paying almost €2 million to a “shelf company” for work related to the controversial PPARS computer system.

Last night, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny claimed a shelf company in the Channel Islands was paid almost €2m to provide seven staff to the PPARS payroll system.

The health services paid almost €7 million in total to recruitment and employment agencies for the services of just 28 specialists for the controversial PPARS payroll system.

Fine Gael has obtained information which shows that 14 recruitment firms, all but one based in Britain, were paid a total of €6,685,000 for employees with specialist skills, who worked for varying durations between January 1999 and the end of September this year. The figures include the fees paid to staff and agencies.

Mr Kenny, who received the information in a parliamentary reply from Tánaiste Mary Harney last night honed in on one of the companies, Blackmore Group Assets Ltd, which was paid almost €2m for the services of seven people with specialised skills.

Mr Kenny claimed that it was a shelf company with an address in the Channel Islands, and said that serious questions arose in relation to how it came to be involved in the PPARS project.

Pointing to the parliamentary reply from the Tánaiste, Mr Kenny said Ms Harney had stated that it was located in England.

But he said that from his inquiries he was satisfied that:

* Blackmore Group Assets Ltd is not registered in this country or in Britain.

* The company uses a privately owned Trust company in Guernsey to bill the Health Services Executive.

* The trust company in question normally forms its companies in the British Virgin Islands or Guernsey.

* Blackmore Group Assets Ltd is a shelf company with no substance.

The HSE, in a statement last night, responded to the Fine Gael assertions, pointed out that there was a procurement process under European Union regulations in November 2002.

This was to select recruitment agencies to supply technical staff for the programme.

It said an independent evaluation of the bids was carried out by a consultancy company on behalf of the PPARS project which focused on the technical abilities of proposed staff.

“Blackmore Group Assets Ltd was one of the organisations awarded work under that procurement. They are a UK-based organisation with the staff provided being UK-based.”

The HSE said Blackmore was engaged on PPARS between April 2002 and Nov 2004 supplying three contract staff at any one time.

One contractor was re-appointed from July 2005 to October 2005.

Mr Kenny said critical questions now arose for the HSE, the Tánaiste and Finance Minister Brian Cowen.