Results 2,541-2,560 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I will answer the questions and am glad to do so. To answer Deputy Kenny's other question, I am informed the Comptroller and Auditor General raised this issue in his report last year — that is what I referred to yesterday. It was stated——

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I am answering Deputy Kenny. I stated yesterday and the Tánaiste stated previously that it would cost another €56 million up to March 2006 to complete the system. Some €20 million of that cost comprises payroll costs, with the rest being consultancy fees to Deloitte & Touche and others.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: When the HSE was established, the Department of Finance had concerns. The Department had a number of meetings this year, which have been documented, at which it raised its concerns.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: There is no need for me to list all those concerns.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: They are in the letter. The Department of Finance said it believed the costs were excessive, that Deloitte & Touche was being overused and that it would have been better if staff had gone in. It asked for all that information to be supplied to it by 8 July. It is that review between the Departments of Finance and Health and Children and the Health Service Executive which has led to what has...

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: As regards any suggestion that somebody here has uncovered something, nobody has uncovered anything——

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: ——because it has been clear all year in the discussions between the Departments of Health and Children and Finance that they had concerns about aspects of this system. That is not to say this entire system is a waste of time and that they should undo what they have done. That is a different issue. I do not believe they should do so. They should continue to try to develop the system so the...

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We all know the challenges of moving from 11 health boards to one HSE. The review which the HSE is undertaking tomorrow will be to see where it has brought this system and whether it should continue in some other way to try to bring the payroll system and all the other functions together. It is clear the amount of money it has taken to date to do it in the way it has been following is far too...

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: During its watch this Government has increased public expenditure from €16 billion to €40 billion so that resources are available. In the past, €16 billion was available but now €40 billion is available for people to spend correctly. The various Accounting Officers and agencies have a responsibility to do that. We will accept our responsibility and will work with them to do so. The...

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: If I could answer this on a serious basis——

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: If that side of the House keeps interrupting when I speak, every time their leaders speak, my colleagues will just interrupt. We can have it both ways.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I tell my colleagues not to interrupt the Opposition leaders, but we can have it both ways.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The problem, as Deputy Rabbitte knows, is that outside the House one only gets two minutes.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Yes, but if Deputy Rabbitte had heard all I said yesterday, he would have realised that I was pointing out that a decade ago the health boards decided they needed to move from a manual payroll system to a proper information communications technology system. They did not move on with this in 1994 or 1995. In 2000 they returned to the issue and got approval for a more extensive system. Hay...

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: They overused outside consultants and should not have had a consultancy contract to the extent they had. I accept Deputy Kenny's valid point on this. In my Department, we brought in the entire e-Cabinet project on time and on budget for €5 million. The reason we did this was because we used our own staff. If I did not have that expertise in the Department, it would have cost a fortune. I...

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I understand the politics of the issue.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: It is important the Health Service Executive gets a proper system so that at least the organisation will know who and how many are on its payroll. It does not have that system and it must be introduced.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: We do not want to see taxpayers' money wasted but we need a system that will prevent waste in the future.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Some 40,000 people are on the system and it is working.

Leaders' Questions. (5 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The issue is how the executive moves to bring the entire system into place. The system was costed at €100 million but up to the end of last year it cost €116 million, €16 million over the estimate. The cost of finishing the job has been excessive for the reasons outlined by the Department of Finance. This is what is being reviewed. I am not getting into the personal remarks Deputy...