Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to raise an important issue, namely the cost over-runs in the preparation and production of Irish passports and the payment of royalties to contractors for each passport issued. This is another example of the taxpayer forking out for the golden fleeces that we have seen so many of in recent times. There have been at least 13 major cock-ups in public expenditure on capital programmes, the largest of which is the personnel, payroll and related system, PPARS, costing €150 million to date, while the original estimate was €8.8 million. I do not have sufficient time to go through all 13 examples, but on the passport system, the Minister must answer some questions.

Why was the provision of the automated passport system so much more expensive than had originally been estimated? The Minister must also explain why a royalty must be paid by the taxpayer every time the new system is used. According to the 2004 annual report from the Comptroller and Auditor General, the costs for the provision of the new automated passport system, for which a contract was signed in late 2002, was €21.819 million. This cost is 60% higher than that estimated only two years earlier, when a figure of €13.559 million was recommended by the Department of Foreign Affairs. While the development of new technologies in the period from 2000 to 2002 may account for some of the increase in cost, the total price of the contract is still significantly higher than anticipated. The Minister must clarify the situation and outline the reasons for the large increase in costs.

In addition, the contract for the automated passport system provided for the exclusive purchase of blank passport booklets and data pages from the contractor and payment of a royalty for each passport issued. Based on an output of 650,000 passports, the cost to the taxpayer under this specific arrangement is approximately €4.76 million per annum. For each passport produced, the contractor receives more than €7 from the State. Having spent almost €22 million on this new automated passport system, the Minister must clarify why the taxpayer must also pay a royalty to the contractor each and every time the system is used. I also wish to know who owns the intellectual property rights to the new automated system and whether this matter was dealt with in the contract. Taxpayers have paid for the development of a new system. Will they see any dividends if this system is used elsewhere?

Two other issues are detailed on page 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. First, legal fees rose from €47,000 to over €294,000, a seven fold increase. Second, it was estimated that a minimum of 40 days assistance would be required for project management. A fixed price per service day was required and the per diem rate varied between €480 and €1,450, depending on the particular consultant engaged. At the time of the audit carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General, some €423,000 had been paid for these services which, at the maximum rate, would represent 290 days work by consultants.

These are serious questions and I ask the Minister to reply to each point raised and give an explanation to this House for the gross misspending of hard earned taxpayers' money.

Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I apologise for the absence of my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, who has had to travel north to a meeting this evening with Northern Secretary of State Peter Hain.

During the tenure of the rainbow Government our passport system was allowed to deteriorate to a wholly unacceptable level. To produce just over half of the number of passports which we will issue this year, the public was subject to queues and lengthy delays on a daily basis. The hallmark of the Irish passport system when the parties opposite were last in Government was queues around the block at Molesworth Street and down Kildare Street. Many in this House would have witnessed those queues on their way in and out of Leinster House week after week.

This Government set about repairing this unfortunate situation. This has been done with success and with value for taxpayers' money. Our automated passport system fully meets all international specifications, is widely regarded as one of the most secure in the entire world and has been described by the US administration as absolutely superb.

The system was never estimated to cost €3 million or €13.5 million. All assertions to that effect are totally without foundation or substance and the parties opposite are well aware of that.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Minister of State should take that up with the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There were various early estimations of the cost of upgrading the old system but not for implementing the new state-of-the-art passport system. Again, the Deputies opposite are aware of this fact. The contract price, which is the only relevant estimate, for our automated passport system was €21.8 million in 2002. It will actually cost €27.7 million on completion. These additional moneys are mainly for additional security features in the new passport system necessitated by tightened passport entry requirements in the US following 11 September 2001. Had we failed to introduce these new security features following 11 September while we had the chance, the Deputies opposite would rightly have accused us of negligence.

The additional moneys were also used to introduce the express passport system into Northern Ireland, where there are over 40 post offices now processing Irish passports. This year 26,000 people in Northern Ireland will avail of this new service.

The passport project was, at all times, conducted within Department of Finance guidelines and it avoided the severe problems experienced by other countries in moving to a new passport system. It also allowed Ireland to remain within the US visa waiver scheme.

Deputy Allen has asserted that €5 million will be spent on royalties but the actual figure will be in the region of €360,000 or 52 cents per passport. The sum of 52 cents per passport is paid for the use of patented software technology used in producing the passports. This is a far cry from the €5 million claimed by Deputy Allen, which is nothing short of a political lie. As the Deputy knows ——

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I resent that remark.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Deputy Treacy should know that the word "lie" is not used in parliamentary debates.

Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

With respect to the House, to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and to Deputy Allen I rephrase my sentence. This is far cry from the €5 million claimed by Deputy Allen, which is nothing short of a fabrication. The Deputy knows that the €4.76 million referred to in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report for recurring costs in the main applies to the purchase of state-of-the-art passport booklets which feature specialised data pages capable of holding digital photographs and other information vital for passport security and fraud prevention. That is the cost of safeguarding our passports' credibility and providing the potential to build in additional security and anti-fraud features and any reasonable person would accept that.

This debate underlines the Fine Gael tactic of shifting base lines to vastly exaggerate over-spending, to the detriment of the State, its systems and officers for naked political opportunism. It is part of a political tactic to project that party's own record of fiscal incompetence on to this Government. Fine Gael has no fiscal spine and is not tenable in the long-term. It is the party which brought us a 27% rise in hospital waiting lists, an 11% fall in local authority housing output, a £1.80 rise in the old aged pension, the Eircom shareholder compensation plan and the taxi driver compensation plan. It will never be the party of fiscal propriety.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

What of the golden fleeces of the taxpayer?

Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That is mere bluster.

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

A total of 13 golden fleeces.

Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Bluster.