Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Significant progress is being made in a range of areas. The Comptroller and Auditor General's annual report to this House, as is the case for every Government of every composition, points out where we can do better and where we need to do better. The important point is whether we put in the systems of accountability that minimise the chance of risk and whether we can ensure that we have the systems in place to enable us to make the sort of progress which taxpayers can rightly expect from the huge sums of money being invested in public services with real returns and real results.

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