Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Kenny knows the Supreme Court decision on the nursing homes issue went back over many decades and successive Governments. It is a decision we must respect and legislation is being prepared to deal with the situation.

People have different views on the computer issue. It would obviously have been better if a review of the contract had taken place every six months or year. However, an organisation with 146,000 whole-time equivalent employees needs a modern computer system. Whatever analysis is done and whatever the Health Service Executive finally decides, it needs a proper technology system that will allow it to have up-to-date information. I accept it should have had tighter controls as it proceeded with the system, but it did not. Both Deputy Kenny and I probably found out at the same time during the summer from the staff involved how the HSE system was operating. Let us hope we learn a lesson from it for the future.

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