David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is one issue arising from that, which I raised at the last meeting but we said we would hold it over. One of the issues at the heart of this report is procurement, the rules around procurement and the non-adherence to procurement rules. We touch on this aspect every week when this committee receives audited opinions from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. In some 50% of the audits there appears to be some comment about the lack of adherence to procurement rules. It is rampant in the health sector, the HSE, the Department, and in education. We need to look at the consequences of it. Sometimes there are extreme manifestations of it such as in this case, which is subject to a criminal investigation. There are other consequences in that there are risks to the organisations themselves if they do not follow the rules because there are always opportunities for those who feel they have been hard done by in the procurement process to take a case. For example, when the Garda was in about the IT system, those concerned just got there too late. When they looked at the new contract, they did not plan and not enough time was given to the organisation with the staff they had and-----