Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I will be brief in putting my question. Are specific guidelines and practices in place within the Civil Service for the procurement and commissioning of IT within Departments and State bodies? A succession of less than successful procurements of computer systems has taken place within State bodies and among the major players in the Civil Service. We need only remind ourselves of the e-voting machines which come directly under the ambit of the Cabinet, PPARS in the HSE and even PULSE in terms of the Garda. None of these measured up to the expectation on its introduction, significant problems arose and the address of deficiencies in regard to two of them was costly. The first of those I mentioned has been parked, perhaps indefinitely.

The Minister of State is obviously consulting outside agencies, so-called experts in the field, on the systems required. Has consideration been given to the expertise within the Civil Service because unquestionably tremendous expertise and knowledge has been built up by people in the Civil Service? Has it been explored? What steps have been taken to avoid a recurrence of these disasters where significant sums of public moneys have been clearly wasted with a very poor return? What steps have been taken to bring on board the expertise within the State bodies, Departments and agencies to match the input of outside expertise in determining the best systems to serve the needs of the particular player considering acquiring a new system or a development of an existing system? I commend the input of those within the Civil Service in this regard. Does the Minister of State agree that if that approach was adopted, we might not have seen the many disasters that have already been recorded during the Government parties' terms in office?

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