Pressure on Cowen over €40m web fiasco

PRESSURE was put on Brian Cowen last night to explain how the Government wasted €40 million on a computer fiasco exposed by the Irish Examiner.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore pressed the Taoiseach as to why costs for the system, intended to act as a central web-stop for all Government services, could have been allowed to spiral so high and then just be abandoned.

“If the Government cannot establish a website describing the way in which public services are integrated, what confidence do we have it will be able to integrate the services themselves?

“There was supposed to be a common website for all the public services. It was recommended and approved in 2003 and eventually delivered in 2005, some 16 months late. It cost three times more than the allocated budget.

“I understand it has cost approximately €40m to date and now it has been scrapped,” said Mr Gilmore.

“Given there is such an emphasis on e-Government and shared services, will the Taoiseach provide some explanation as to why it was so expensive in the first place?

“It is merely a website and €40m is a great deal to pay for a website,” Mr Gilmore said.

The Taoiseach refused to be drawn on the case, but insisted the Government was still committed to investing in web access.

“The questions relate to the public service transformation project in which we are now engaged. There are ongoing reforms in the public service.

“I make the point that e-Government certainly must improve. One major item to arise from the surveys on public satisfaction is that people are unable to get common information to the extent they would wish and that there are delays. Moreover, the level of available knowledge when people contact the public service is not as they would wish in some respects,” he said.