Ms Oonagh McPhillips:

The Vote of the Department of Justice and Equality covers a wide remit, encompassing both the administrative divisions of the Department and a broad range of offices and agencies across the justice and equality sector. In all, there are approximately 60 individual subheads reflected in the Vote across five expenditure programmes.

I refer first to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the development of ICT systems. It is important to note at the outset that the Department fully accepts the recommendations in the report and there is now in place a much stronger governance structure than when the projects in question commenced. The largest project mentioned in the Insolvency Service of Ireland started over five years ago and was completed in 2016 at a cost of €3.6 million. The context in which this was achieved was, by any standard, unprecedented. The establishment of the new service was a top troika priority and was monitored weekly at the time by the Government and the Cabinet committee on mortgage arrears as well as by the troika in their regular reviews. The Department was given the task of setting up the Insolvency Service of Ireland, ISI, and the director designate was appointed in November 2012 while work continued on the draft legislation going through the Oireachtas. Given the state of national indebtedness, this was a core deliverable in the troika agreement and, obviously, an ICT system would be required in order that this commitment could deliver on its mandate. This was achieved in very pressurised circumstances and the ISI opened its doors in September 2013. While key staff were still in the process of being recruited, the Department's ICT division has engaged in respect of the development on an urgent basis of an online case management system. Because of the need to deliver the system quickly, a decision was taken to develop it in-house within the existing Lotus Notes environment. This was undertaken by the Department's own IT team with support from contractors under established contracts. While the case management system, the OCMS, is sometimes described as a single project, it is in fact an extensive and complex system which supports several elements linked to the personal insolvency infrastructure introduced by the 2012 Act. It comprises two websites and three separate elements: the interface with the Money Advice and Budgeting Service and registration of practitioners; the interface with the Courts Service, which is unique and groundbreaking and works well; and the case management system itself. Various developments in the legislative structure meant the requirements were somewhat difficult to define, which contributed to the complexities of the system design and implementation. Nevertheless, it was recognised in an external review we commissioned in 2016 that the hard work and co-operation by the joint project team resulted in the initial application going live on day one, as required, in September 2013.

It is accepted that difficulties emerged in the project for a period after this, which led to the then Secretary General putting in place strengthened governance arrangements, including the appointment of an experienced external chair and a new project board from February 2015. It is also acknowledged that there are ongoing shortcomings within the existing system, particularly the level of manual intervention required as well as gaps in the management information and reporting needs of the service. In the past year, the ISI, with support and oversight from the Department and the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, has gone to the market for a new system, and I understand that procurement process is now nearing conclusion. By the time this is implemented, the existing ICT system will have been operational for approximately five years and will have been depreciated in full. As Accounting Officer, I continue to work towards strengthening controls and implementing both internal and external audit recommendations. In addition to the strengthening of the project management and governance arrangements, we are undertaking a comprehensive risk assessment across all aspects of ICT operations. A further ongoing audit is reviewing the controls in place in a representative number of the bodies and agencies and how these organisations link back to the central ICT shared service. The outcome of these audits will assist us in further strengthening the controls and management of the function across the Department.

Turning to other matters in Vote 24, members may recall that my predecessor provided an update to the committee last May on the leased premises on Wolfe Tone Street, which was procured in 2008 for use by the Probation Service. As the Comptroller and Auditor General's office has pointed out, this was the subject of legal proceedings which were concluded in late 2016. This is now reflected in the 2016 appropriation account. It was previously the subject of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General in his 2011 report. The central issue in this case was assurance provided by the vendor in respect of planning permission for the premises. In his 2011 report, the Comptroller and Auditor General outlined that it was reasonable for the Department to rely on the legal advice provided in respect of the planning permission. The total cost in respect of this matter, including the legal settlement in 2016, was €3.89 million. The settlement was based on strong legal advice and resulted in closure of the matter, thus avoiding any further costs accruing to the State. The Department relied on legal advice at all times in respect of this matter.

Throughout 2016, the Department was also implementing its programme for change arising from the 2014 Toland report. Over the past four years, we have focused on measures to strengthen our revised culture and identify and embed behavioural change. All of this is supported by robust governance frameworks, revised management processes and formal agreements with the relevant agencies of the Department. We continue to review and update these with a view to driving further improvement in the processes. In 2017 the management board decided it would be timely to review progress on the implementation of the programme and engaged external experts to do this in a rigorous and independent manner. That report was published earlier this year and it identified that significant progress has been made and also where more has to be done. The board agreed with the analysis, which reflects its own view and feedback from staff across the Department. I circulated details of the progress being made, and this is also published in more detail on the Department's website, so I will not detain the committee with that.

Arrangements for the governance of agencies, which is a particular focus, have been formalised and strengthened. At the end of 2017, framework agreements were in place with 23 agencies. These are all published on our website. The process of updating and renewing annual oversight agreements for 2018 has begun and, again, these will be published when agreed. Seven have been published to date this year.