Derek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his reply. I am a Member for a very short time but I am sure that our country is losing millions of euro in fraud, waste and bad management. This morning I contacted the auditor general of the Toronto city audit department and in discussing this matter, he made clear that it is very difficult to measure the deterrent factor of a hotline that exists in Toronto but that it acts as a deterrent and it has established already not only significant results in reporting fraud, waste and bad management but has engaged those in management to be more responsible and conscious that it is public money and not their own money that is at issue. His second point is that the benefits of the audit process has been proven to pay for the department seven or eight times over.

The city of Toronto has saved millions of Canadian dollars on waste by reforming the methods in which it spends money, value for money audits and dealing with fraud. That is the reason that I tabled this question. I would like to discuss some of the finer points that I have learned about this week. How long does it take in the current circumstance to process queries, investigations, spot checks?

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