Full coverage: Procurement

Analysis of more than €1.6 billion of HSE spending shows just one recruitment firm received €478 million in less than four years and ten others shared over €1 billion – for an unknown number of staff.

For decades, Government policy has been to outsource social housing to private landlords while telling them that they needn’t bother with common public supply transparency obligations. This is coming back to bite one of their own.

National Broadband Ireland and the government have decided to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the rural connectivity plan, answering The Currency’s questions last week. Rules applicable to listed companies could helpfully replace such ad-hoc disclosures on public-private partnerships.

Two months after National Broadband Ireland’s first accounts raised multiple questions, the company sits down with The Currency and provides answers including its full list of shareholders and the conditions attached to controversial loan funding.

The Department of Communication has declined a fresh freedom of information request for the full National Broadband Plan contract. Its response reveals the volume of documents kept secret and the fact that the contract has changed multiple times since it was signed.

The government has been at pains to answer questions from the opposition on the capital structure of National Broadband Ireland. Misrepresentation of The Currency’s reporting did not help clarify matters.

The unsteady financial structure of National Broadband Ireland is set to undergo scrutiny in the Dáil as it continues to collect subsidies from a maximum €2.97 billion pot of taxpayers’ money.

The financial details and the appointment of corporate restructuring advisors revealed by The Currency this week raise serious questions about the future of the National Broadband Plan. They could have been addressed earlier if the project was not so opaque.

Before National Broadband Ireland delivered its first connection, it started spending money on another priority: Payments to companies controlled by its own investors.

Despite repeated government pronouncements that private investors in the National Broadband Plan would inject their own money first, after one year they had provided just half of the amount promised – and charged hefty interest for it.