Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for their attendance. I wish to express my condolences to the family of and all belonging to the garda.

Many of the issues in question have been raised by various members. Mr. Finn stated that data were important and the Garda needed to record them properly, but the PULSE system seems to be unfit for purpose. As far back as January 2015, a chief inspector, Mr. Robert Olson, said that the system was not fit for purpose, that it was 1990s technology and that it was time to be retired. The special rapporteur for children, Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, also stated that it was not fit for purpose from a child protection point of view.

A couple of weeks ago in the Dáil, I raised with the Taoiseach some issues surrounding Accenture, which designed the PULSE system. Accenture has received a great deal of money for Garda work and procurement guidelines have been ignored. When it was put to Mr. Michael Culhane, head of finance in the Garda Síochána, that 73 contracts in 2015 with a value of more than €11 million had breached procurement guidelines, he said that he accepted that 73 was high but that the Garda was actively addressing all those issues and that it Garda was working with its colleagues in the Office of Government Procurement to that end. In 2016, 94 contracts breached guidelines.

In respect of the issues to which Deputy Clare Daly alluded, are things getting any better? I tabled a parliamentary question about Accenture and this matter in June of last year. It took six months to get the information back. Perhaps the assistant commissioner might be able to clarify something. I was told that Accenture was paid more than €16.5 million in 2016 but the internal audit published in August 2017, which I also raised in the Dáil, said that Accenture was paid €26.5 million in 2016 - some €10 million more. Perhaps there is a technical reason for that in respect of how payments are made. Can the assistant commissioner shed any light on that issue?