Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I understand. We will hold it over. I have comments on the specifics, which we will come to next week.

I have a general point on this post-project review process. I am sure the members will agree with what I have to say. This had to be published on budget day and it has come to us now. I will not discuss the recommendations because they relate to the specifics of the report but the gist is that the culture section of the Department should learn lessons from what happened. This review was approved by that Department of Public Expenditure and Reform before it was published. The scope of a post-project review for any project in future must include recommendations from which the public sector can learn. There are clear lessons to be learned from this that could have benefits across the public sector if they are implemented. Everything in this report has a very narrow focus on this project and one section in one Department that should learn from what took place. It is too narrow in terms of the scope of its recommendations. All future post-project reviews must extract specific lessons and when they go to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, it must see what benefits can be obtained across the public sector. This report displays a silo mentality and focuses narrowly on one project, one section and one Department. All the recommendations are confined to that Department. I suspect that because it is so narrow in its conclusions, there will be no learning process across the wider public service. It will be deemed to be for a specific narrow area. All spending reviews in future must have a section on learning lessons across the public sector. Any report I see that does not have it in future will be seriously challenged by this committee as not being effective in terms of learning the required lessons.

I will not get into the specifics. I expect Deputy Connolly will have much to say about the matter on the next occasion. It is a comprehensive report and we need to devote some time to its examination. I am happy to postpone that examination having made some general comments. They pertain to more than just the specifics of the case. This came from an earlier report of the Committee of Public Accounts and it is why we have a particular interest in it. We will publish the reply and hold it over.