Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ms O'Keeffe, I am sorry. We have only one question here: how did this happen? It is all very well saying the Department is changing its systems. We have a fiduciary duty as public representatives to get value for money for the public purse. Two things happened here. A contract for €160,000 was put out to tender so no business case had to be made to the Department. Then the value of the tender ballooned nearly tenfold to €1.4 million and it still did not get approval from the Department. Not only that, but the trucks that were bought were grossly inadequate, so the contract fails on every account. I have read the report. I still have not got an answer from anyone as to how this happened. Mr. Clonan, it was on your watch. You were deputy chief of the Coast Guard at the time. How did this happen?