Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

In terms of the success of the strategic management initiative, when the Taoiseach says that Departments are preforming better now than they were 20 years ago, is it not difficult to take that statement at face value on the day when the Committee of Public Accounts will publish a report showing that the Department of Education and Science concluded a deal with the religious orders that exposes the taxpayer to a bill of €850 million, with only €128 million being recouped from the religious? That may have been a political decision but after last week's High Court case, it looks like the Comptroller and Auditor General was uncannily accurate when he said it would cost €1 billion and the Department did not update its assessment.

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