Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I do not imply that every aspect of the entire public service system is massively efficient.

I did not answer Deputy Kenny's earlier question on the Health Service Executive. However, I chaired the committee on health and I am fairly familiar with the matter he raised. We are a long way from having a unified accounts system that would allow payments and quick information to be provided in an organisation with almost 120,000 staff. PPARS may have been too big a reform to undertake all at once but, for all its problems and difficulties, it gave us very useful information. The unification of all areas and divisions in order to provide proper information quickly is some way off.

We have brought in a retired eminent civil servant from the Department of Finance to look at how we can best do that. A very large number of accounting systems must be brought together and put together manually at the end of each month. Information does not become available until several weeks into the following month, which should be available on the third or fourth day of the following month, as it is in the Department of Finance for the whole country. The Department of Finance can roll out accounts within 24 hours at the end of a month or year.

The HSE faces the challenge of establishing a unified, modern, integrated accounting system. This will not happen in 2007 but it must happen in the next few years. I do not know how long it will take. We have brought in an eminent person who will be good at identifying what needs to be done over the next few years.

There are times when, for one reason or another, something is not brought to the attention of all the relevant people, whether the Taoiseach, a Minister, a Minister of State or a public servant. Reports are done in such cases. Every Department is complex and deals with a huge range of issues. I always defend those involved in such matters. When I walk the corridor from my office to the Chamber, I am stopped by numerous officials and asked for directions on various issues, such as Cabinet matters or meetings in Northern Ireland or Europe, and I give instant decisions. My decisions are then recorded in complex e-mails which I might not recognise or remember in two months time. I find it interesting to see how others are having difficulty remembering something that happened a month ago while eminent people in another location expect me to remember, with certainty, what happened 17 years ago. Perhaps they credit me with more intelligence than everyone else.

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