Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 16 February 2021

Public Accounts Committee

2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office
Chapter 5 – Implementation of Financial Management Shared Services

4:00 pm

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I return to the issue of the financial management shared services platform, which is really important. The NSSO came out of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. As that Department is charged with ensuring value for money and efficiencies within the public service, a situation where a project within that Department has ballooned in cost from €47.4 million to an estimated outrun of €115 million gives cause for concern. The NSSO was under the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform but, from my reading of it, was given its own Vote because of the spiralling costs involved. The purpose was clearly to try to achieve cost savings for the taxpayer by pooling administrative costs. One of the issues highlighted in vindicating the need for this was that the budget of €47.4 million would be recouped in savings over all Departments within 9.1 years. We now have a budget of €115 million. What is the estimated time for that figure to be recouped in savings?

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