Health board denies irregularities over land deal

THE health board facing an inquiry today into its unauthorised building of a €9.5 million new headquarters denied last night that there was anything irregular about another recent property deal it undertook.

The still unexplained source of funding for the North Western Health Board’s (NWHB) plush new HQ in Leitrim - built without permission from the Department of Health - is to be scrutinised today by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.

Initially, the plan was to alter and extend the existing building at a cost of just €900,000, but this snowballed into a project in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, costing 10 times as much, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

But it’s the second time in a year that the property dealings of the NWHB have come to the attention of an Oireachtas watchdog committee.

Professor Niamh Brennan, the author of the Brennan Report into the financial management of the health services, told the Oireachtas Health Committee in November 2003 that the health board issued a cheque for a site it was buying, even though the ownership of the land in Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, was not sorted out.

Going through a litany of poor financial management in the health service Professor Brennan said the Comptroller and Auditor General queried the NWHB’s actions.

“Think of this in terms of buying a house - why was a cheque for £350,000 issued prior to clearance of title?” she said at the time.

Last night, the North Western Health Board said it was satisfied there was nothing unusual or irregular about the board’s handling of the site purchase issue.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the health board said the arrangements for the purchase of the Ballinamore site were entirely consistent with normal conveyance procedures.

“The board and the vendor entered into a contract for the purchase of the land that was conditional on the formal establishment of the vendor’s title to the property.”

“Until such time as title was formally established therefore, no monies would be handed over. The board’s interests were therefore fully protected at all times.”