Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

It is clear the project needed to be scoped properly at an early stage. It should have avoided trying to achieve business and organisational change through the means of an ICT project which should have properly involved users and properly piloted the system before its introduction. The difficulties encountered in terms of the project getting bigger, costing more than estimated and taking longer to complete are common to such projects in both the public and private sectors. There have been many reports on these issues. The challenges in terms of governance were made even more difficult by the fragmented nature of the health board system and the independent status of boards.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's report highlights a number of issues in regard to PPARS and ICT projects generally which we must further examine, and confirmed the immediate action which we have taken.

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