Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I do not mean to zone in on any particular person but we are here to discuss value for money and the business case. I was raised to believe the devil quotes scripture for his own purpose and we all now do that. I see that a chapter of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report is being quoted ad nauseam, by me as well as others. It is being done incorrectly, as it happens. The Minister quoted it last night but she quoted arguments given by the Department and not the Comptroller and Auditor General. The Comptroller and Auditor General sensibly, clearly and in a moderate way stated that there was no one business plan at inception. He said he believed it was very good and that it had good points and elements of good practice but that there were a number of omissions and partly addressed matters. This report dates from September 2016 and it puts the reader on notice that there is no business case.

In terms of value for money, where is the business case? The contract for €3 million, to be rolled out by 2016, did not happen and it was way under that. A new contract was entered into with advance payments to the company. Lots of bodies come before us and we haul them over the coals for a business case, for a rationale for why something is necessary or to tell us the benefits of something. If I accept Ms Dixon's report, the benefits are illusory, particularly in the area of making services available. It was supposed to be an enabler but it has become an inhibitor. It was supposed to make it easy for Departments to roll out their services but that has not happened. Fraud is a minute factor and identity fraud is a minute part of overall fraud, yet errors are higher. We are rolling out a project the costs of which were projected to be €60 million by 2016, although nobody can tell me what they are now.