Irish Water consultant fees to reach €85m in 2015

It has emerged that the total spend on consultants by Irish Water will have exceeded €85m by next year.

The utility's senior management team will answer questions from the Dáil's environment committee this afternoon.

That meeting was arranged following uproar after it was revealed last week that €50m had already been spent on various consultancies.

However, briefing papers issued ahead of this afternoon's meeting now reveal the €50m figure is not the end of the spend, and at least a further €35m is earmarked for consultants by March of next year.

They also reveal IBM will receive almost €45m for IT support.

Accountancy, legal and management firms will also receive nearly €28m from the company before April 2015.

Independent TD Catherine Murphy says ministers must have been aware of how much the company was spending.