PPARS firms ‘avoided tax’

FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny yesterday contended up to five companies recruited to work on the PPARS payroll system for the health services may have been involved in facilitating tax avoidance.

Mr Kenny was responding to reports in a Sunday newspaper that claimed that four other companies besides the Guernsey-based Blackmore Group Assets Limited may have facilitated tax avoidance through offshore companies.

He said that the internal audit of the Health Service Executive (HSE) into the awarding of PPARS contracts in 2002 must now be completed and published as a matter of urgency.