Results 7,941-7,960 of 10,459 for speaker:Bertie Ahern

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: ——but it was never intended that the system would cost €10 million.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The cost of the system, as envisaged by the Hay organisation in 2001, was €95 million. Some €116 million was spent up to the end of last year. It would cost another €55 million, more than €20 million of which would be a staff cost, to finish the system in its entirety. Unfortunately, if 100 people work on a system, one must pay them. That might be a difficulty for Fine Gael, but on...

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The system is not finished adequately. Deputy Kenny finished by asking me to state who I feel is responsible for this difficulty. The 11 health boards found that they could not put a payroll system together.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Thankfully, the Government established the HSE.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: It is obvious that a single organisation is responsible for ruling the 140,000 staff. A review of the matter is under way in the HSE——

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: ——which has a good executive, chairman and chief executive. We have confidence in the HSE.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I would like to make a final point.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Kenny tried to say that it is an IT system. It is not an IT system.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: It is a human resource system being developed for the entire HSE into the future. A large part of it is working.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The firm in question,Deloitte & Touche, did not get the money just for consultancy. It implemented the system, trained 140,000 staff and tried to put the entire system together. That is what the money was paid for. We should have more honesty. There are difficulties with the system, but we should not have presentations, either here or elsewhere, which are totally dishonest.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The Deputy does not like the truth.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I have not blamed anyone.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: Deputy Kenny started his contribution by saying that the Government is totally responsible, but he then said we are trying to pass the buck totally. He cannot have it both ways.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The HSE is conducting a review of the system, as planned and put together over the past seven or eight years, to see whether it is capable within a reasonable cost of providing a modern management system for the health service's 140,000 staff and its annual payroll of €7 billion. The details of just 40,000 staff have been placed on the system to date. It has been estimated that a further...

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: ——was procured following an EU tendering process and international evaluations.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I would like to respond to Deputy Kenny. The system was extended considerably after the procurement process was completed. The Hay report stated that considerable savings could accrue if the system could be made to work. Modern organisations require top-class systems. The system in question is used here by several multinational businesses.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: However, because of the enormous number of grades — there are close to 26,000 coded grades across the health service — it is simply not compatible with what they are doing. Last October and again this year, the Health Service Executive, with officials of the Department of Finance, stated several times through the news media that it was reviewing the system. It does not intend to dump the...

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I remind Members that when we raised issues of accountability in this House during the establishment of the HSE, it was those on the other side of the House who said there was too much accountability. We will work with the HSE to deal with this system so that we achieve a modern organisation, properly constituted, with 140,000 staff, and spending €7 billion per annum. We will continue with...

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: I reiterate that Professor Drumm and his colleagues have worked for some months in consultation with the Department of Finance to examine the difficulties with trying to bring a full system to fruition. The correspondence between them is available under freedom of information legislation and is in the public domain.

Leaders' Questions. (4 Oct 2005)

Bertie Ahern: The system was not implemented until 2002. The HSE is endeavouring to solve this. Whether it is exactly this system or an alternative system, or the system that applies to 40,000 staff, with some change to the system for the other 100,000 staff, it is vital a coherent system is found. The HSE has used an EU evaluation system and the best consultants in the country — the Hay organisation and...