Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I am at a loss to understand the reason for a Revised Estimate this late in the year. The subject pertains to the public service broker arrangement, or REACH, which was meant to cost the taxpayer €14 million but eventually came in at a figure of €37 million. This note from the Whip shows clearly it has been abandoned by the Government in an under the counter fashion without a direct debate in this House. Overall, the Comptroller and Auditor General's report demonstrates that the entire business of e-government and public service access ended up costing an additional €88 million.

Reference was made to red cents earlier today in respect of the comments by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern that there was not a red cent available for the hospital in Navan. This is where the red cents have gone. They have gone down the drain. This report refers to a Cabinet decision in March to abandon the REACH project and transfer it to the Department of Finance. This is to be done under the counter without a word directly in this House and I do not consider that to be good enough. The Government must have acknowledged at the aforementioned Cabinet meeting that the public service broker project was a fiasco and that the Comptroller and Auditor General was correct to conclude that €25 million was wasted on this element of the e-government project out of a total wastage of €88 million. Incidentally, this figure does not include the €55 million to €60 million spent by the Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey, on e-voting.

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