Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will mention a couple of things from that report. There was €1.9 million of expenditure on ICT equipment. Somebody who had previously worked on the VEC on a short-term basis got that contract. A second issue I want to pick up comes under the report's statement of the views of the Department of Education and Skills. The report stated that the Department would continue to insist on adherence to proper procurement practices in VECs. It went on to remind the VECs of this.

There was a code of governance and an understanding that proper procurement practices would have to be in place. Special attention was to be given to Kildare VEC. Some of the same points and some of the same language appeared in the 2012 report as appears in the report that has just recently been issued. How does Mr. Ó Foghlú account for that? Where is this code of governance? It is only as good as its implementation.