Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

All over the country people are out fundraising for vital life-saving equipment. They are running marathons, holding coffee mornings and doing trick-or-treat campaigns. It is only a short time since John Aldridge took up what he called singing to raise money for a CAT scanner in Temple Street children's hospital. The purpose of his efforts was to provide a piece of equipment that would prevent children with serious head injuries from having to be moved to Beaumont or the Mater. People do such things because the Government is not providing money for the required priorities, so where is the €13 billion expenditure on health going?

It is just over a year since I exposed to the House the financial disaster known as the PPARS project. I remind the Taoiseach that €144 million of people's hard-earned money went down the tubes in a system that underpays and misspends. It does everything except what it is supposed to do. In response to that matter, the Taoiseach said he would freeze the project, stop the rot and halt the waste. Neither the Taoiseach nor his Government did that, however. The Dáil was misled about that matter because he did not stop the project, nor did he stop the waste.

I have a copy of the Astron Consulting report, which was published in September this year. The report, which is a fundamental review of the PPARS project review, is worth reading. It does not need any sexing up because its findings are so stark. The report's conclusions are that the PPARS project was "badly conceived" and "poorly implemented". It also states that "the system is not stable yet" and "reflects the old (health board) structure". In addition, it states that "the ongoing costs are very high". This year, the Government spent over €21 million——

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