Watt says using law firm to represent children's hospital could lead to claims of 'bias'

Construction of the new national children's hospital in Dublin. The head of the Department of Health has said that retaining the same law firm which drafted the national children’s hospital contract to represent it legally could lead to accusations of 'bias'.

The head of the Department of Health has said that retaining the same law firm which drafted the national children’s hospital contract to represent it legally could lead to accusations of “bias”.

Robert Watt, the secretary general of the department, was addressing the fact that McCann Fitzgerald, one of the country’s premier law firms, drafted the contract for the controversial €1.7bn hospital bid in August 2017 and has since been appointed the main legal advisor to the National Paediatric Health Development Board (NPHDB), the body with responsibility for delivering the new hospital.