The Taoiseach today denied a blind eye was being turned to waste in the health service and said any such waste could not be condoned.
He was responding after an HSE audit of the controversial Skill training programme found fundamental elements of internal control were not in place and that there were serious shortcomings in relation to areas such as governance, funding and foreign travel arrangements.
Minister for Health Mary Harney has said any waste of money by the Health Service Executive was “not acceptable” and would be addressed. She said the issue was now the subject of a Garda inquiry and therefore did not want to comment further.
Brian Cowen told the Dáil this morning there had been real improvements in health provision and that a very large number of people had a good interaction with the service.
The Taoiseach told the House the centralisation of services under the HSE, particularly in acute hospital care, was far better than the old organisation under the regional-based system.
During Leaders' Questions, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny criticised the Government for repeated public service financial scandals.
"Five years ago, you told us the famous Ppars debacle would be the last that there would be accountability and transparency," Mr Kenny said.
"It is absolutely ironic that the Minister for Health actually congratulated the HSE for finding the rotten apple in the box yet again," he said. "This is a scandalous situation. There is no accountability, no transparency and nobody being brought to book here."
Mr Kenny claimed a "culture of waste" had infected Fás, the banks and Government departments had now permeated the HSE amid a climate of "hear no waste, see no waste, speak no waste".
The Fine Gael leader said it appeared the Government to "do not give damn" over the "litany of waste" in the HSE and questioned whether it was no time to dismantle the service as it currently stood.
Mr Cowen accused Mr Kenny of portraying the situation as one that was incapable of reform and said there were many within the health service was wanted to proceed with reform under the Croke Park deal, which, the Taoiseach said, allowed for redeployment and flexibility that would provide a sustainable service into the future.
Mr Cowen said the Comptroller & Auditor General was dealing with the audit and it would be considered tomorrow by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore agreed with Mr Kenny that there was a "pattern of waste" within the HSE.
The audit found a significant number of breaches of public sector requirements and HSE policies and procedures in relation to procurement; utilisation of health service contracts; reimbursement of personal mobile phone costs; hotel expenses, taxi usage; public sector recruitment obligations; maintenance of personnel records; superannuation commitments and data protection obligations.
Among the findings of the report were that no financial records for travel or hotel costs were kept in relation to foreign travel to the US, Australia, Hong Kong and the UK. It says one trade union employee arranged and paid for overseas travel for public officials and others and subsequently either claimed back unvouched and unspecified costs from the Skill programme or funded it through a grant the union received from the Department of Health.
It also reveals that relatives of staff associated with the Skill programme were directed to a recruitment agency, which then placed two people on temporary contracts with the Skills office. The relative of one was subsequently appointed to a full-time HSE post and placed on the HSE payroll without an internal or external competition taking place.
The audit also sets out that one former employee was awarded a HSE pension, even though €75,000 had already been paid into a private pension plan.
The report also highlights what it describes as excessive use of taxis associated with the programme. It finds that between 2006 and 2009 one-quarter of all taxi journeys, a total of 83, had taken place outside office hours. It says 74 taxi journeys were made between 7pm and 4am “mainly to and from hotels, restaurants and pubs”.
As revealed in The Irish Times last June, the audit report specifically criticises the payment of grants, totalling over €2 million – funded by the Department of Health as part of the allocation to the Skill programme – to a bank account linked to individuals close to Siptu. The union has said the account into which annual grants of €190,000 – €250,000 were paid was not one of its authorised accounts.
“Deficiencies were evident at all stages of the grant process, the awarding of the grant, the communication of the award, the disbursement of and accounting for the grant and the monitoring of and accountability for the grant”.
The audit says neither the former office of health management which channelled the payment to the account prior to the establishment of the HSE nor the Skill programme sought audited annual financial statements from the union in respect of the grant to satisfy themselves that the funds had properly been accounted for.
“Failure to do so was contrary to public financial accountability procedures and financial procedures in place pre and post the establishment of the HSE,” it states.
The audit adds that tax clearance certificate obligations were also breached.