Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My sympathy goes out to the secretariat if the Chairman thinks this can be done within the week. I welcome the Thorn report. I have read it. I would like the direction put into context. A direction was issued by the Minister. Can someone put that into context? Is that the first direction or is it the first of many to different organisations?

The report refers to effective governance and accountability as crucial. I believe it is premature to go down the procurement route. I agree with my colleague that the issue of procurement comes up repeatedly but there is a bigger picture here. Effective governance and accountability is crucial. The report outlines, in relation to Government procedures, that adequate arrangements to manage procurement and conflicts of interest were in place according to the documented procedures, however it highlights the shortcomings on an operative basis. And so we are back again, and it was the same last Tuesday with the Department of the Taoiseach with regard to the President's Establishment, notwithstanding any attempts to deflect from the issue. On paper we were learning in the reports that everything was fine but in practice it was not. Here we have the same thing; on the ground everything is in place but on an operative basis it is not happening. The Department has issued a very strong directive, has issued recommendations and has set timescales. They had two weeks to respond to this but have they responded? I do not know. When the Department issued this letter and direction they had two weeks to reply to it. As there are many recommendations with timescales, we need to ensure those timescales are being complied with. The committee should not be doing this, the Department of Education and Skills should be ensuring these timescales are complied with.

There is so much in this that one would despair. Now they need an external agency again on this. It is only thanks to those people who took a great interest, and to the Comptroller and Auditor General's office which deserves the main praise, and to the other people who paid attention to this, that we waded through all of this as best we could. Now we have this direction and outside help is needed again. There is also the role of the Institute of Public Administration to consider, a concept for which I have great admiration. I served on a previous vocational education committee, VEC, for ten years and I am aware that one can be left struggling. There are many general serious issues in this regard.

I have sympathy for the secretariat if, after one week of looking at it, they have to try to tell me what this committee should be discussing.