Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 3 October 2013

Public Accounts Committee

2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 42 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Chapter 6 - Financial Commitments under Public Private Partnerships
Chapter 12 - Vote Accounting
Chapter 13 - Procurement without a Competitive Process

1:20 pm

Photo of John McGuinnessJohn McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Why not list the number of people who cannot have operations because money is being wasted by the system? Look at people waiting for nine months in respect of social welfare. Look at the staggering ongoing yearly cost of fraud and error within social welfare. I went to the bother of driving down to County Tipperary to see a particular project because, like Mr. Watt, I am hands on and like to see what is going on. The taxpayer, through different Departments, has invested €4 million in that particular project, which now is locked up. The fine timber floors for which the taxpayer paid are now popping up and bending all over the place. The response of the State is to ignore the €4 million and to investigate €150,000. My request to Mr. Watt's official on that day was to come back to tell the committee what could be done to save the €4 million already invested by the taxpayer. The taxpayer does not understand the reason the €3.3 million for the State Pathologist's office was written off and the site's development not completed.

Mr. Watt can suggest that one puts together all the nice things and he gave himself a glowing report this morning. While I do not disagree with some of it, I do disagree with other parts of it. However, this is the issue with regard to the system and it just continues. On the simple matter of paying a person, a State agency paid a person for six years at a cost of €300,000 in spite of that person declaring he should not be paid as he was with another agency. The work of this committee may dwell on the negatives in the system but unless members understand the complexities of these negatives and the costs to the State, one will never get the positive side of the balance sheet correct. No one here suggests that positive things are not happening, because of course they are and officials do a good job. However, one must look at this and conclude there is something wrong with our system that allows this to happen.

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