Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

When the Minister is asked a difficult question, he responds by reading blather from his file, which is a bit wearing. He was asked what was his role in this regard. This was a programme that, for example in the public service broker, was approved without a budget. There was no matching budget for it and no evaluation of what was going on with it. It cost two and a half times over budget. The programme shows that no substantial savings were achieved as a result of the ICT initiative. Where was the Minister when this was happening?

Programmes were initiated and money spent on them, then they were abandoned. What was the Minister's role, as part of the Cabinet sub-committee, in monitoring these programmes that, having been initiated, wasted significant amounts of public moneys? His role is to ride shotgun on such programmes and ensure that ambitious visions are delivered on time and on budget. This fell asunder while the Minister was at the helm. The Minister was asked what was his role at the helm and why this happened on his watch.

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