Final Report of Outgoing PAC Shows Waste and Inefficiency Still Persist

13th July 11

Waste, ineffectiveness and poor planning still exist across many public bodies, according to a report published today by the Dáil Public Accounts (PAC) Committee.

The new Public Accounts Committee today published the outstanding results from the previous Committee’s investigations. The report arises from the PAC’s investigations undertaken between July 2009 and February 2011. This brings to a conclusion the work done by the PAC in the 30th Dáil.

The report analyses practices in a wide range of public agencies such as the HSE, FAS, Universities, the Financial Regulator and Government Departments. It makes a series of recommendations which aim to lead to better public services and provide greater value for money.

Among the report’s main finding are:

The need for better targeted schemes so as to ensure that the desired outcome is achieved;
Better oversight of public bodies so as to ensure compliance with corporate governance rules and to eliminate waste;
Outsourced delivery to be accompanied by rigorous oversight;
Adherence to terms of agreements, especially where the State has paid to have services delivered;
Better risk analysis so as to enable the identification of systemic risk;
Greater use of indicators to measure performance;
Business cases and cost-benefit analysis to underpin new policy initiatives.

Committee Chairman, John McGuinness TD said;
“Regretfully, this report highlights again some of the inadequacies in the way public money is spent. Its findings stress the lack of proper monitoring and targeting of expenditure in many State agencies.

There seems to be an absence of sufficient information and planning; which means that often money is not used properly as no reliable data exists to inform spending. In many instances, the State is seen to be the loser because it has not been able to effectively monitor its expenditure.

For future investigations, the new Dáil Public Accounts Committee has resolved to update the reporting arrangements of the Committee. It intends to reduce the time between taking of evidence and the subsequent reports and will also seek changes to the mandate of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

John McGuinness said;
“Accountability demands that the time between hearing evidence and the ensuing report needs to be much shorter. It is not satisfactory that matters being addressed in this report relate to information first received two years ago. I am not prepared to permit dust to gather on our work or the work we want others to do.

This Committee intends to press for evidence that Departments and agencies are changing the way they do business. We will follow up rigorously on the implementation of the recommendations that are made by the Committee, which are accepted by the
Government. To this end also, we have asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to carry out a formal follow-up exercise in relation to the findings and recommendations in his reports published in 2009 and 2010. Follow up is an incentive to comply.

These changes should be taken as a clear signal that the Committee will not tolerate a “business as usual approach” which had become the norm in the way our public services are run.

The Members of this Committee are representatives of a public deeply disenchanted with the lack of efficiency and accountability in many of our State and semi-State bodies. The people of this country are demanding that these bodies operate to the high standards that our private and professional sectors must reach to achieve international success. A vibrant, efficient and proactive State is vital to our success as a country. This Committee intends to play a key role in ensuring that the public gets value for money and our State and semi-State organisations are encouraged to become models of best practice internationally.”

Click here to view the full report of the

ENDS
Daniel English
Oireachtas Communications Office
01 618 4484
087 6949926
 
Committee of Public Accounts
Membership
John McGuinness (Chairman)
Kieran O’Donnell (Vice Chairman)
Paul J Connaughton,
John Deasy,
Paschal Donohoe,
Anne Ferris,
Simon Harris,
Michael McCarthy,
Mary Lou McDonald,
Michael McGrath,
Eoghan Murphy,
Derek Nolan,
Shane Ross