Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The organisation also suggested that the system would lead to a reduction in staff turnover and would facilitate cost avoidance systems. The health boards tried to pull all of this together. An international IT consultancy group, Gardner, was commissioned in July 2004 to examine where the project was then. The group's report indicated that although spending was in line with the level outlined by the Hay organisation three years earlier, the costs were rising. The Gardner group wrote to the project team outlining some of these issues. The reality is that the system being put in place to replace the payroll system was quite complex because it dealt with many matters relating to 140,000 members of staff and a payroll of €7 billion. The Hay organisation pointed out that if the system had been put in place correctly for €150 million, it would be a ten-year system dealing with approximately €70 billion. If it had worked correctly, that would have been fine. Unfortunately, just 40,000 of the 140,000 health service personnel have been brought under the system. It has been suggested that it would cost €55 million to finish the system by the end of March 2006. I know the sums sometimes come as a problem to Deputy Kenny——

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