Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources:A politically inspired decision to move the Forest Service to Co Wexford was partly responsible for the mismanagement of a multi-million euro information technology project, the C&AG report suggests.
In reply to the Comptroller's queries about the project, which ran at least €2.4 million over budget and failed to deliver on its objectives, the accounting officer of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources said circumstances following the 1997 general election had had a "direct or indirect impact" on the scheme.
As well as moving the Forest Service from the Department of Agriculture to that of Marine and Natural Resources, the Government decided in October 1998 to relocate the service to Wexford under a decentralisation drive.
At the time, the Minister of State at the Department with special responsibility for forestry was Fianna Fáil TD for Wexford Mr Hugh Byrne, who lost his seat in last year's general election.
Under "Accounting Officer's Response", the report notes the move to Wexford "resulted in the loss of approximately 90 per cent of the experienced Forest Service staff, and the consequent introduction of new staff with no experience or knowledge of the Forest Service business. Furthermore, the senior management position had remained in Dublin."
The report continues that, following the relocation, electronic communications structures were "poor".
It took a full year before an effective e-mail system was installed and Internet mail was available to all staff.
"These factors put considerable strain on staff and management in delivering business outputs over the period and, inevitably, had an adverse impact on progressing all of these [relevant IT] projects, especially the GPAS (Grants and Premiums Administration System)", which was designed to monitor forestry premiums and grants.
A total of five computer projects, including the GPAS, were involved in the Forest Inventory and Planning System (FIPS) initiative. One of the projects, a ground survey, was not undertaken, while the other four ran over schedule and over budget.
These comprised a classification report using satellite imagery to map forests, a soil analysis study, and pilot and main GPAS projects. Expenditure to the end of 2002 on the projects totalled €9.2 million, 75 per cent of which is due to be reclaimed through the EU.
The C&AG report found that the €2 million spent on GPAS was largely wasted as the system failed to deliver on its objectives. A replacement project, scheduled to cost about €3.5 million and to be completed by the end of next year, has since begun.
