Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Deputy Kenny rightly referred to the pattern of waste in the HSE over which the Government has presided for many years. The latest example of this is contained in the internal report presented to the HSE on the audit of the SKILL programme administrative expenditure, which will be considered by the Committee of Public Accounts tomorrow. I hope there will be full accountability from the HSE and all the other organisations involved in that episode.

I want to draw the Taoiseach's attention to another area of waste in order to get some answers from him. I refer to the report issued yesterday by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which tells us there is no purchaser for the electronic voting machines and that the State is not going to recoup any of the money wasted on that expenditure. At a time when people are being asked to pay more and endure further cuts as a result of the Government's mismanagement of the economy and the banking crisis, it is increasingly unacceptable that such waste continues without being accounted for. The electronic voting machines were purchased in 2004 by the Government and €50 million was spent on them but they were never used. It was part of a pattern of waste which was taking shape at that time. However, this episode did not have to happen because the Labour Party, Fine Gael, information technology experts and academics warned the Government in advance about wasteful expenditure on a voting system that would not work, was unreliable and should not be proceeded with.

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