Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not dispute the commitment of consultants in general to their role. However, we need safeguards for the public. We need safeguards for the HSE and the Department to ensure items like this cannot grow to excess. When one looks at some of the reports from the Revenue Commissioners, it raises concerns. I am concerned, looking in from the outside, at what is generating some of this. On the procurement process, it was mentioned that 30% of a €2.2 billion sample of spending was found to lack competitive tendering.