PPARS controversy - No defence for wasteful IT system

In much the same way as it was rather ludicrous of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to attempt to spread the blame for the ill-fated PPARS project, so is the effort by the Health Service Executive boss to defend the controversial system.

No matter how hard Professor Brendan Drumm tries to defend it, as he did before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee yesterday, the system will always be considered a disaster by the taxpayers who had to foot the bill for it.

Even the Comptroller and Auditor General, who is the public’s watchdog on public spending, was highly critical of the computer information system of the Health Service, which cost €131 million and was controversially suspended earlier this year.