Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

Instead, it appears that this money has been allowed to disappear into a financial black hole or, more accurately, into the bank accounts of the Government's favourite consultants.

When a story like the PPARS fiasco emerges taxpayers expect three actions. They expect the Taoiseach, as head of Government, to acknowledge that a problem exists and that errors have been made, they expect that somebody will come forward and accept responsibility at political level for such a waste of taxpayers' money and they expect a commitment from Government that steps will be taken to ensure that lessons are learned and that there will be no repeat of such waste of money. Instead the reaction of the Taoiseach has been to circle the wagons, deny that there is any problem and try to bamboozle the public and the Dáil with waffle. This side of the House has not been taken in and the public will not be taken in either.

There are other areas of concern about waste within the Department of Health and Children. There are reports about other computer systems within the Department which are causing similar difficulties.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's report also raised questions about the national treatment purchase fund and the Labour Party has called for a complete review of this scheme. It is astonishing to find that 36% of patients dealt with under the NTPF were referred for private treatment in the same hospital for which they were waiting for public treatment. This confirms that public hospitals are being prevented from working at full capacity because of budgetary constraints.

I remind the Government that when this scheme was originally announced with such great fanfare by the Progressive Democrats, the Labour Party warned of the danger that we would end up paying hospital consultants twice for treating the same patient and that is exactly what has been happening. I was always sceptical about the NTPF plan because it seemed to me that the needs of patients would be far better met by investing in public hospital services rather than diverting millions into the private hospital system, and certainly we would expect to get better value for money.

Following the issues raised in his report, the Comptroller and Auditor General should be asked to undertake a value for money audit of the entire NTPF scheme before we continue on the road the Minister for Health and Children seems determined to take towards privatising large sections of the health service.

There is real anger among taxpayers at the ongoing waste of their money by the Government. That concern will have been greatly exacerbated by the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the disclosures regarding PPARS. Ministers are custodians of taxpayers' money. They must ensure the money is well spent and not wasted on vanity schemes or ill-conceived or poorly thought out projects. This Government has failed miserably in this regard. It must be compelled to bring forward proposals to improve the system of public expenditure decision making, to get better value for taxpayers; money and to the tackle the ongoing waste of public money.

I assure the Government that this side of the House is determined, when we return after the next general election, not just to be in Government, but to be in a better Government that will deliver value for money and excellent public services. What concerns me more than anything is that many of these projects meant significant amounts of money were lost.

In terms of the health service it was not just money that was lost. I have no doubt that lives were lost because money was not spent where it was most needed. People were left on trolleys or endless waiting lists trying to access the care they needed. Families were unable to get a medical card. Our hospitals are dirty and there is insufficient investment to deal with MRSA. Many of us know people who have suffered from the bug. A friend of mine died from it. These are the kind of changes that could have been delivered by a Government committed to ensuring quality public services delivered on the basis of efficiency and value for money. We now have a record of this Government's total failure to do so.

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