David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The part that troubles me from a public accounts committee perspective is one we seem to be coming across this time and again. When we look at procurement the issue arises as to whether sufficient metrics are in place to allow the Committee of Public Accounts to evaluate whether or not what has been set out as the objective has actually been met. We have seen this not just in procurement but generally. I believe that putting in those benchmarks is good for public service. When they are put in there they protect the HSE as well. The witness goes on to say that there was and is - which concerns me more because he is talking about the here and now - "no comprehensive and measurable suite of service delivery metrics to ensure that the bidders delivered across the breadth of the contract". The staggering failure, from my perspective, was that those metrics were not there. Whatever about the past, if it is still the case that they are not there, it troubles me even more. Is it the case that they are still not there?