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

Every single week it is the same thing. Yesterday they released, by mistake or whatever knowing the games that are being played, a report which raises further questions about procurement.

I do not expect the Secretary General to know the following. This morning the clerk to this committee received an analysis of a dossier which showed that contracts were being awarded without procurement - it was just ignored - even though some of these contracts were in the region of €100,000. A contract was then awarded to check on the contract that was issued for €100,000 which cost €58,000. Then there were recommendations by staff to use a consultant who would cost €1,000 per day. I have just touched on these matters which have happened within the HSE.

Yesterday the committee went to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to meet its counterparts from Northern Ireland. We discovered that our counterparts in the North paid out €1.3 million, not just without proper procurement procedures being acknowledged but without paperwork. They paid €1.3 million for an obsolete piece of equipment that was valued at €30,000 but was never used. The reason I say this to the Secretary General is because he oversees these Departments. Is that correct?