David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Reading from the Comptroller and Auditor General's most recent reports, he states that it should be noted that the level of non-compliant procurement may be higher due to under-reporting. He went on to state that the HSE, for example, does not have adequate systems to capture instances of non-complaint procurement and accepts that it is unreported at this level. He also found that all testing of HSE procurement in 2015 involved testing of procurement in five locations. Some 30% of the samples were found to be non-compliant and in 2014, 47% were found to be non-compliant. He went on to conclude that non-compliance with procurement requirements in the HSE is systemic. Not only that, there were many organisations for which he cited similar problems. The Minister of State correctly says that we are only aware of this because of the Accounting Officers informing us of non-compliance. The problem is that nothing changes because there is no sanction. There are a number of issues here. There is no sanction and there are potentially levels of unreporting as well. All I ask for is a review. Can we review what is happening here and see if we can get changes? In the health service alone, it amounts to €1.6 billion of the €14 billion spent on health in terms of the purchase of goods and services.

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