Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has claimed millions of euro have been wasted on a HSE computer system while there were difficulties in the health services.
Mr Kenny said that a year ago he had raised the PPARS project - "a waste of €150 million of taxpayers' money on a dud payroll system that overpays, underpays and mispays".
At the same time, the front-line situation in the health services was not what it should be.
"Today's newspapers tell a story of a suicidal teenager on a trolley for seven days, step-down beds being as scarce as hens' teeth and people running marathons and fund-raisers for cancer care services." The Government's taste for waste was insatiable, said Mr Kenny. "Under PPARS, the black hole is getting bigger. Does the Minister for Finance know that in addition to the €150 million already spent on PPARS, this year a further €18 million has been sanctioned for it?
Having sanctioned this money, is the Minister confident that the HSE is capable of handling information technology projects ?"
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, who was taking Opposition leaders' questions, said that the PPARS project was providing payments for up to 30,000 employees and dealing with the HR issues of more than 70,000 employees .
