Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Nugent said in his statement that "In December 2017, An Garda Síochána received approval from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to use the Office of Government Procurement to tender for a new skilled resource contract through open competition." This includes support for the strategic transformation office, STO, and I want to touch on it. The STO was set up to help implement the modernisation and programme of the former Garda Commissioner. The costs associated with the STO are included in the overall ICT budget but the Policing Authority's quarterly report states that nobody is willing to take responsibility for this budget. The authority's report states ICT "could give no greater clarity since they have no line of sight or responsibility for this budget despite it appearing within their budget lines". The STO states, according to the report, "their understanding was that this was part of the ICT budget and therefore not the responsibility of the STO". Accenture was paid €2.8 million in 2015 to set up the STO. The contract states that Accenture is to support the set-up and running of the strategic transformation office. The authority's quarterly report states there will be close to a 100% overspend of the STO budget for 2017, €4 million instead of €2.1 million. Can the witnesses shed some light on this issue? Why is no one willing to take responsibility for the STO?