Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

The Minister of State has thrown around a lot of blame instead of accepting that he and his Department are responsible for this waste of taxpayers' money. Where is the oversight on the part of the Department? I fear the report has revealed only a fraction of what has been happening. The Minister of State needs to get to grips with the issue and put an end to the squandering of public money.

The Minister of State stated that contracts are reviewed when they have concluded. Why is there no review during the lifetime of the contracts, especially when the Minister of State has been provided with this kind of evidence? It should be obvious that where there is evidence of mismanagement of taxpayers' money, contracts should be ended. Given the level of mismanagement revealed, does the Department intend to review all IPAS accommodation contracts to ensure there is no further abuse of taxpayers' money?

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