Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In regard to the consultants, various figures have been bandied around, including €50 million, plus €30 million or €35 million for legal consultancies. Perhaps Mr. Tierney might elaborate briefly now and in detail later on what exactly was provided by these consultants. For example, were advice, direction, systems, equipment and so on provided? Mr. Tierney referred to a figure of €44.8 million in respect of IBM, €17.2 million in respect of Accenture, €4.6 million in respect of Ernst & Young and €2.2 million in respect of KPMG. Perhaps he might elaborate on what exactly was provided by these companies. The ordinary individual would like to know, without his going into detail, whether these companies provided advice or other services. The sum of €44.8 million is a lot of money and people would like to know if for this amount systems were put in place and equipment and so on was supplied.

I am always sceptical of consultants. Coming from a local authority background, as did Mr. Tierney, I know that to even hang a gate a consultant's report was necessary, which report often cost twice the amount to do the job. It has been said that it is because Mr. Tierney comes from that background that consultants have been engaged extensively. I am sure the reason is to ensure the putting in place of a modern utility that will deliver a world class water system that will provide the best possible value for the consumer. Perhaps Mr. Tierney might confirm that that is the case. While, as I stated, I am sceptical of consultants, perhaps if they had been engaged for the PCAR and e-voting systems, millions of euro would have been saved.