Consultant’s role under scrutiny

ACCOUNTANCY and consulting firm Deloitte and Touche first became involved in the health services, Payroll, Personnel and Related Services (PPARS) project in October 2002 as “implementation partner” for the project’s roll-out.

In three years, the company has charged tens of millions of euro for its services to what is now the Health Service Executive (HSE). Though it is hard to quantify exactly how much, Fine Gael has estimated the cost at around €50 million.

It may be less, but Fine Gael seems to be in the right parish in relation to its costs. In June, the Department of Finance noted that consultancy/contracting management services to date had come to €41m. The bulk of that went to Deloitte. Finance’s minute of a meeting it held with the Dept of Health and with the HSE also stated that the company “costs for 2005 include Deloitte, €13.5m.”