Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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The letter addresses the issue of a possible misuse of public money. It certainly addresses the issue of a use of public money which has entered the public arena in recent times. The issue to which I refer is that which relates to a tender for what is termed a "digital recorder logging system" for use in taping telephone conversations in Garda stations. A large contract was awarded in 2007 to cover a period from 2008 onwards at three-yearly intervals and to be renewed at yearly intervals.

It also includes a maintenance contract and the parties to that contract are the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and whoever got the contract. It is important that since the Garda Commissioner cancelled these activities that we look at them and at whether there was a waste of public money and whether it was being properly used. The issues involved here are very serious. They include, first, why this particular service was needed; second, whether value for money was given; and, third, whether it was illegal. In other words, was this money being used for purposes for which it should have been used? All those issues are matters which should be addressed by the Committee of Public Accounts. This applied to at least, as everybody knows, 20 Garda stations or more. It is a matter we should address as a matter of urgency, particularly in the light of what the Garda Commissioner has done since last November when he cancelled these activities. The people we should ask in are the people involved and the people I specify in my letter.