Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

The matter of the €56 million is not the only one that indicates a cavalier attitude towards accountability in Government spending. The Minister for Finance has questions to answer regarding this issue. The June memo was discussed earlier. It is quite clear that the Department of Finance told the Department for Health and Children that it was unclear how the costs were and continued to be appropriated as between current and capital spending, that current items were treated as capital and that it must stop. That is what the Department of Finance stated in June.

Another meeting was held in September for the Department of Finance relating to what was happening at the Department of Health and Children. It stated that no sanction had yet been given for any IT spending in the HSE for 2005. However, it was aware that substantial moneys continued to be spent, despite the lack of sanction. For PPARS and FISP, it had informal indications that this could amount to €1.75 million per week.

This appears to indicate that although no sanction was given for such expenditure, up to €1.75 million was being spent every week within the Department of Health and Children. I want the Tánaiste to clear this up——

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