Former Environment Minister Phil Hogan is at the centre of a fresh controversy, over the multi-million euro bill for consultants at Irish Water.

A new document has come to light which appears to show that Mr Hogan signed off on  €40 million in consultant costs in December 2012.

But a year later he said he was unaware how much Irish Water planned to spend on consultants.

At this point  €50 million had been spent on outside advisers. 

Responding to the revelations, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said the Government has serious questions to answer regarding the way Phil Hogan handled questions about his knowledge of Irish Water's consultancy spend.