Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

I am getting used to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach replying to my questions by agreeing with the sentiments in them and then doing absolutely nothing. The vast fees paid to PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst & Young, a company that disgraced itself in Anglo Irish Bank, are completely indefensible. How long will the Government continue to pay these fees when there are equally reputable - or equally disreputable - people in the second line of auditors who will do the job for much less? Why does the Government always and invariably go, sometimes without going through the tendering process, to the big four, which are not only discredited in Ireland but are now discredited internationally and in Europe, as we will see in the coming draft regulation?

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