Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

There seems to have been a change on the Government benches this morning.

It is just over a year since I raised the PPARS project, a waste of €150 million of taxpayers' money on a dud payroll system that overpays, underpays and mispays. It does everything but what it is supposed to do. At the same time, the frontline situation in the health services is not what it should be. Today's newspapers tell a story of a suicidal teenager on a trolley for seven days, step-down beds being as scarce as hens' teeth and people running marathons and fundraisers for cancer care services.

It appears the Government's taste for waste is insatiable. Under PPARS the black hole is getting bigger. Does the Minister for Finance know that in addition to the €150 million already spent on PPARS, this year a further €18 million has been sanctioned for it? Does he know that €10 million of that money is going to the consultants who issued the report on PPARS last year? Having sanctioned this money, is the Minister confident that the Health Service Executive is capable of handling information technology projects?

See this speech in context