Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

Has the Minister examined the list? It is bizarre that of the 92 reviews promised, 31 are politely referred to as roll-overs. To the layman, this means that reviews promised four or five years ago were never undertaken in most cases. The Minister now states that they will be undertaken.

Does the Minister know that the Department of Health and Children has not made a review since 2001 and will not produce a review under this programme until 2008? A full six years of the Department's spending, approximately €70 billion and half of our national income, will not be reviewed in value for money terms. Is this acceptable for such a programme? The Office of Public Works is in the same boat; no review will be completed by the OPW for seven years. Due to decentralisation, it has decided it is too busy to determine whether it is getting value for money. Is that acceptable for an office that will spend €3 billion during that time, which is a conservative estimate?

The promised reviews in the Department of Education and Science, which spends €8 billion per year, will cover €52 million or just more than 0.5% of its expenditure. Is this a sufficient review to determine whether taxpayers are getting value for money in that crucial area? We must see whether we are getting value for our money, but we can see everyday that we are not getting that value. The Minister must change the programme and focus it to a sufficient scale to make a difference.

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