Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am saying that the employee resigned following the "Prime Time" programme, and therefore there are questions to be answered in that respect. Have the hospital's previous internal audits highlighted any indication of flaws in the system? How robust is Mr. Cullen's oversight of hospital's procurement policy? I know from the Committee of Public Accounts that there are constant problems with various public sectors in terms of adhering to the public procurement guidelines, something that is constantly an issue for the Comptroller and Auditor General. Is that something that has been brought to Mr. Cullen's attention by auditors in terms of the hospital's purchasing activities? Can Mr. Cullen give us an idea of the extent of procurement annually in financial terms? How large is that?

Finally, I wish to ask whether Mr. Cullen has preferential suppliers. He says that any procurement or purchase over €1,000 is subject to procurement tendering and so on. Can he give us an idea of the type of suppliers he has and how large the procurement tenders are? Can he also indicate whether there is a trail of the same companies successfully tendering for the same contracts on a regular basis?