Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has told the Taoiseach that new guidelines on the use of outside consultants are a "formula to get you over the hump".
Speaking in the Dáil this morning, Mr Rabbitte also asked Bertie Ahern to consider suing consultants to recoup some of the money spent on the HSE's controversial PPARS and FISP computer systems.
Pat Rabbitte
"Is the State going to initiate any legal action against the consultants who got away with €150 million of taxpayers' money and leave a mess behind them?" he asked.
"Will you as head of Government take any action against the three ministers who left the taxpayers with a bill of €166 million.
"We still don't know if you're simply saying that we're writing this off or putting it down to experience."
Mr Ahern said that separate reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Health Service Executive (HSE) are being carried out on the controversial projects.
"I think we should wait and let the HSE do a full evaluation of what happened over the last few years," Mr Ahern told Mr Rabbitte.
Fine Gael revealed yesterday that a €3 million portal website for accessing health services never went live. It was launched by former minister for health Micheal Martin last year but was suspended in February and new tenders were offered for the project last month.
The Government announced yesterday that departments will have tighter controls for running computer projects and hiring outside consultants.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny earlier ridiculed the guidelines as "consultants reviewing consultants".
Additional reporting PA
