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THE CHAIRMAN of the Dáil’s powerful Public Accounts Committee has blasted as a “whitewash” an external report into how Ireland’s government debts for 2010 were overstated to the tune of €3.6 billion.
John McGuinness slammed the Deloitte report – which cost €61,500 – as being largely based on the outcomes of the Department of Finance’s own internal report, but said neither adequately dealt with the series of events that led to the error.
McGuinness also heavily criticised the former secretary-general at the Department of Finance, Kevin Cardiff – who was in charge of the Department when the error was made, and who is now a member of the European Court of Auditors – for not arranging to be present when the reports were presented.
The two reports were formally presented to the Committee by Cardiff’s successor, John Moran, this morning. The reports outline shortcomings with staffing arrangements within the Department of Finance, which meant there was insufficient scrutiny in compiling the national accounts.
The reports recommend ending the current arrangement where the Department of Finance and the Central Statistics Office are responsible for compiling Ireland’s national accounts, leaving the responsibility with the latter.
Moran described the error as “wholly regrettable” and giving the CSO sole responsibility for the area in future would be the “first step” in ensuring such errors did not occur again.
“The manner in which the report seems to have been compiled is that the internal report was completed, and it was that internal report and its findings that Deloitte dealt with, and hence the other second external report,” McGuinness complained.
What’s missing from the report is – it’s similar to any other report issued by the Department over the years – it is always a systems failure, it always comes across the desks here at the Public Accounts Committee as being the failure of some system or other. Some IT system, some mid-ranking to junior staff member in the Department. It is never a senior person standing up and taking responsibility.
He continued:
I figure, Mr Moran, that if senior civil servants are taking their pay cheques, with their names on it, alongside that pay cheque comes a responsibility.The responsibility in that case, of line managers, was to stand up and say, ‘We left that statistician on their own – we didn’t put around him the appropriate supports that were necessary to complete their job.’
It was the failure of your department that caused that to happen, and yet there’s no mention of management in either of the reports. That’s what I find so shocking, and so unacceptable, about the reports.
McGuinness lambasted the reports as a “whitewash of the critical issues that needed to be examined but were not explained,” and said the cost of such a report in that light was “shocking”.
Moran was unable to confirm whether a procurement process had been followed to find a firm to undertake the audit, but said he could remember that there was “difficulty actually finding people willing to do the work”.
Evidently frustrated, McGuinness sighed, “Don’t tell me that,” demanding an explanation as to how Deloitte had been chosen to compile the report – which was written “in a language that’s almost not English” – if there had been no competition in seeking to do so.
“All we asked for was a report that would be independent enough to tell us what happened in the Department around this particular error,” he said.
“In fact, having listened to the CSO, we [the committee] could have made a recommendation that they be given the task to record those figures.”
He further complained that the circumstances around the €3.6 billion error were not unique, saying the reports outlined how similar – though significantly smaller – errors had arisen in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
The CSO has previously explained that the error arose when the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) borrowed €3.6 billion from the National Treasury Management Agency, instead of from the bond markets as would have been the case before Ireland’s EU-IMF bailout.
The loan was erroneously treated as if it had been borrowed in the usual way, however, meaning the HFA’s debts – and therefore those of the government – were overstated by €3.6 billion.
Similarly, the NTMA’s loan to the HFA was incorrectly labelled as a bank deposit – meaning it was treated as an ‘asset’ – instead of correctly being labelled as a loan from one State agency to another.
The outcome of the dual error was that the government’s assets and liabilities were both overstated by €3.6 billion – meaning there was no material change in the government’s financial position.
Ireland’s debts were overstated when described in proportion to Ireland’s GDP, however, which could have had an impact in the measures undertaken by the government to meet its EU-IMF targets.
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A sad state of affairs this country has become.
A big vote of confidence to the great men and women in our emergency services. Doing their best for the people of Ireland every day.
It’s the management of the health service that need to be a shamed of themselves. Putting lives at risk and letting the front line staff take the heat.
This is beyond shocking..what is wrong with this country that they decide on the value of you life depending on where you live..regardless of where someone decides to live, be it the middle of rural Ireland or the middle of the city, we should all be treated equally. But this really doesn’t happen in Ireland.
I feel sorry for the paramedics that arrive on these scenes – I have every belief that they work so hard to save everything single life – what an awful feeling it must be to loose a patient, especially as a result of the government closing hospitals and cutting vital resources. Health should come first, this government is a joke.
As a matter of interest does anyone know why no helicopters are deployed to scenes like this? Is that a lack of funding too? At the very least there should be a number of medical helicopters available to fly people to hospitals where they can receive the best possible care.
This poor unfortunate girl was under the care of 5 pre-hospital specialists, 2 of which were APs. That’s significantly better than the level of care that would be available in a “local” A&E.
Anyone who thinks Roscommon General could ever hope to manage a condition with “approximately zero” survival is frankly psychotic. She died because she was injured. Shame on anyone suggesting the NAS had any hand act or part in her tragic death.
My condolences to the Curley family R.I.P.
Unfortunately a lot of people shooting their mouths off here have no idea what they’re on about or what we do as Paramedics or Advanced Paramedics and indeed the skill set we have, they merely want to jump on the anti – hse band wagon. This girl although tragic was by all accounts dead and the practitioners on scene were trying to revive her, their resuscitation efforts continued enroute to hospital which would have involved the paramedics most likely standing in the rear of a moving vehicle, not ideal but fact, the route chosen was to enable safe and continuous resuscitation efforts which may very well have been interrupted due to the poor road conditions had the other route been taken by the ambulance , this resuscitation effort most likely included IV or IO drug administration and advanced airway management by way of an indotracheal
Tube which if displaced would have impeded oxygenation and brain function should this poor girl have survived. There are many things wrong with the HSE but on this occasion your barking up the wrong tree.
Awful situation, everyone suffers yet the politicians get free ipads 8 week paid holidays trips to brazil, and this is the result, poor girl and ambulance crew, we need to stand up and be counted, this needs to be sorted out.
Not many people standing up and being counted so far – maybe the simplistic analysis and puddle deep reasoning after a tragic death is turning people off.
So sorry for this young girl and her family and friends. I don’t think it’s appropriate to make any political points out of this. I would just like to say that if ever I, or my loved ones, or anybody else for that matter, had the misfortune to suffer a medical emergency, that they would have the good fortune to have someone like Mick Kavenagh and the other paramedics who have commented above, to tend to our needs.
Thank you for that comment. It means a lot.
well said legends every one of them regardless of what a few tools say.
It’s seems as if the tragic death of this girl has been hijacked for use in a protest.
People die in Dublin and other towns and cities that have the best emergency departments but sometimes it just doesn’t matter.
There are plenty of times when critically ill patients from across the country have to be transferred to Beaumont hospital because it specialises in serious head trauma. So sometimes a longer journey can be beneficial
RIP, this is a tragic case.
The only reason this girl would have survived is if she was in an operating theatre when the accident happened with a full trauma team, neurological surgeon, cardiovascular surgeon, an anaesthesiologist and full ICU support.
Even if Roscommon was open, Elaine probably would not have survived this tragic accident. The only hospitals that have these facilities are national referral centres – St James’, Beaumont, Galway, CUH, etc.
The paramedics on site did all they could, and tried until the very end to save this girl, and this should be recognised by all.
How horrifically painful for the family RIP she is with Angels now.
This of course is tragic…but people need to realise that having services on your doorstep costs money….who’s up for an across the board 5 or 10 % increase in income tax to fund services to be on standby when a situation like this arises?
No one in their right mind believes these things are free but when you look at where/ how much the resources of the country are being used the cost of an A&E becomes a grain of sand
Ehm, no – full A&E services are SHOCKINGLY expensive.
Nurses, doctors, consultants, radiographers, support staff, lab technicians, surgeons, medical teams. All the time.
We can’t afford, and don’t have any need for, the excessive number of facilities demanded by people who have no idea of what’s involved in actually providing them.
@ Kevin Farrell Yes every service costs money and yes we are in the worst crisis that this country has ever seen…BUT how much more is the continued closure of Roscommon A+E cost the state JUST to keep it closed????????????
I think this particular case is being used to highlight a very real problem with the closure of a geographically important service. No one doubts how hard the ambulance teams work but there really is no denying how disgraceful it is to have to travel that far for an A&E. This particular girl might not have benefited but any statistics or theories put forward in support of any closure of a regional medical facility should be treated with upmost suspicion. The people of the west deserve better. We need to get our priorities in order quick sharp.
Wonder where they got their medical degree’s from?. How can they defend playing ‘God’ with someone’s life?
Mary, I’m a Paramedic with the Ambulance Service. We most certainly do NOT play God. It’s an unfortunate fact that there are some injuries that if you sustain them, the chances of survival are virtually nil. All those headlines you read about “young male killed in fatal car crash”, well every one of those people sustained a cardiac arrest caused by blunt trauma. It’s a killer, and you need to be very, very, very lucky to survive.
As regards the transport, we all wish that every county had a Trauma Centre, and every hospital has a huge A&E with all the diagnostic tools to enable us to make the right decision for getting the patient to definitive care. But we don’t. What this girl had was a team of 5 diligent Pre-Hospital professionals trying their damn best to save this girls life, but no matter what skills we have, no matter what our proximity to a hospital, no matter how fast we get there, there are some injuries that you have very little chance of surviving.
So no, we don’t play God. As a matter of fact we try our best to keep you away from God for another while…..
this poor girl was sadly literally dead at the scene. a very, very slim chance of survival. even if she had.survived her brain would quite likely have suffered a lot if damage, both from the cardiac arrest and the collision.
tragic loss of life but unfair to blame the personnel on the scene.
@mick as someone who’s family had to use the ambulance service can I just say thank you! I know from personal experience that they never gave up on anyone even we knew ourselves that they were gone!
All thoughts to the family and many thanks to the ambulance services.
What a stupid comment…..I do hope you have more respect for the paramedics and drivers if they called out to you…..
@Mick Kavanagh… yes fully accept your comment about not playing God. But the real issue here is if the Government are going to close or curtail emergency departments in hospitals, why is there no Air Ambulance provision (common other EU countries) which would facilitate getting critically injured patients to hospital in the quickest possible time. Do you accept that getting to hospital in the shortest possible time maximises the chances of survival? Being treated in the back of a bumpy ambulance is a poor substitute, no matter how well trained the paramedics are.
@Kevin, just to point out, I believe the Air Corp have been providing air ambulance cover from Athlone for about 2 months now and apart from one incident with a technical fault I read in the paper I think it has been very successful
My father has suffered 2 severe heart attacks. Both times we were told time was the essence. In fact the second time we were told not to wait for ambulance but to take him ourselves to hospital. We were told by medical staff the fact we did saved my father’s life. I have the greatest respect for paramedics and hospital staff but sometimes they make mistakes and in this case it is my opinion that a mistake was made. My previous remark was aimed at the facts in this case only. How hard is it for the HSE to say a mistake was made in this case?.
@Kevin. There is an Air Ambulance. Is started up about 2 months ago as a partnership between the HSE and Air Corp. It’s the same one that had a “heavy landing” a few weeks ago in Tipperary. While it isn’t a fully fledged HEMS service it’s there, and I’m sure it will make a difference in the long term. I’m sure it will lead to a dedicated HEMS in the future.
As regards long transport times, you’re dead right, a shorter transport generally leads to a better outcome. But here’s the clincher, it only leads to a better outcome if they have the tools and protocols to solve your problem. A lot of times it’s better if we stabilise you Pre-Hospital in your home, we continue the treatment en-route to definitive care. Example: your having a heart attack (Myocardial Infarction), we arrive, give you Oxygen, ASA, GTN, we call an AP, he gives you Morphine, we do a 12 lead ECG, it’s sent via telemetry to the receiving hospital, they now know you are mid MI, and we make a decision to transport you to a centre where they can do an Angiogram, they can insert a stent, give you the drugs, the heart attack is sorted. On the way we pass a hospital that may not even have a protocol to thrombolise you. So you’re better off going to a centre of definitive care.
I totally see your point, but sometimes a longer journey time is actually better for the patient if we bring you directly to a centre that specializes in your particular acute condition. We would all love huge hospitals in every county, but it won’t happen. We have to work with what we have.
@everyone else, thank you for the positive comments. :)
My father has suffered 2 severe heart attacks.Both times we were told time was of the essence. In fact the second time we were told not to wait for the ambulance and we raced through the streets with my dad in the car.We were told that this action saved my father’s life. My previous comment was aimed at this particular incident , not aimed in general at all paramedics. As a family we owe a great deal of thanks to paramedics and hospital staff and not only for my father.In my opinio
Mary, it is great that your quick action contributed to your father’s recovery, but this was not the same as your father’s condition. Heart attack is a very imprecise term. Your father probably had a myocardial infarction. This girl was in a very serious accident and suffered injuries that could not be recovered from, no matter how close the hospital had been.
Read again what Mick has said here. There can’t be a specialist hospital on every corner, but even in a fairly remote part of the country there was an ambulance and a trained specialist team on the scene in 16 minutes – that is a triumph, not something to be critisised. Sadly this poor girl could not be saved, but if she could have been the right people, with the right training, were there.
the decision to close Roscommon was down to Enda Kenny and James Reilly and by their extremely bad choices they and only them (Enda Kenny and James Reilly) have they put the lives of every resident in Roscommon at Risk they also have shown disrespect and disregard to the lives of the Ambulance Crews Whose lives are at risk with every emergency they are called out to and yet they MUST be the MOST safest Drivers on our roads I always say a silent prayer for the Every Ambulance since the closure of our A+E 12 months ago for their return and the safe delivery of the patient. The Closure of Roscommon is a National Disgrace and not just a local issue.The whole of the country should support the reopening of Roscommon A+E Please
With the skill sets of the 5 Pre-Hospital Care Practitioners present, the fact that this girl didn’t survive is most likely due to the severity of her injuries. Advanced Paramedics can do a lot nowadays in terms of interventions and the only person who could’ve done more for this poor girl was a Surgeon with a team of professionals surrounding him/her. Society seems to think Medical Science can do anything these days, and that everyone can be saved.
The Ambulance Service provides an excellent standard of care to patients in very challenging conditions in an imperfect world to the best of their ability.
There is also a pervailing public notion that time spent in an ambulance is wasted time, and that paramedics are just drivers in a big yellow taxi. People need to know that this is not the case and that paramedics and advanced paramedics have a wide skill set that is utilised to it’s full extent to treat and stabilise patients enroute to A&E. The publics knowledge of the structure and function of the health system seems to be quite poor actually, judging by the some of the comments on this article and others.
The Ambulance Service is designed to “do the most, for the most”, not to do everything for everybody, as this would simply not be practical.
My sincere condolences to the family of Elaine. It’s hard to accept the death of somebody so young.
My condolences to the family for the loss of their lovely daughter, but i’m afraid this is only the start of many cases like this.
@kevin. There is an air ambulance with an advanced paramedic crew based in athlone, however it wasn’t operational when this unfortunate incident occurred.
I’m well aware of the Air Corps service. But it is the typical Irish version – it is not a fully-operational Helicoptor Emergency Medical Service. As you say yourself, it wasn’t operational during the time of this particular, devasting incident.
Unbelievable…..sue both HSE & Mr O’Reilly.
Seriously?? Did you actually read the above comments or just jump in with both feet. That poor girl had virtually no chance of survival even if an A&E was close by. Yes the HSE is in shite but sueing the HSE or blaming the paramedics that I have no doubt gave 110% to help her does no good whatsoever.
That’s the job, sue them all an that’ll solve it!
There is no case to answer – the girl was most likely dead at the scene of the RTC.
The only way she would have survived the RTC is if it happened on the hospital grounds, with the various surgeons, nurses, back up, ICU and equipment in place.
The only hospitals that could have dealt with something like this are the national referral centres, and even then, it would have been a miracle.
Yes, every county should have its own trauma team, and cardio surgeons, neuro surgeons, anaesthesiologists, ICU support, along with the support services that go in line with this. We are a nation of 4.5m people, if we had this kind of service, the personnel would not gain enough experience, and thus loose their skill sets.
RIP Elaine Curley.
Why don’t ambulances have GPS systems? How far a stretch is that?
What makes you think they don’t?
The ambulance didn’t get lost – Creggs is just very far away from a hospital since Roscommon A&E closed.
This makes me think ambulances don’t have GPS: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=79810278#post79810278
What makes you think they do?
GPS are class and massively increase response times. Sadly our job wont issue our skips on wheels with them so many of us buy our own. Im on my third satnav now the last two sadly broke. GPS should be on issue for all emergency services im sure Garmin would give a huge discount for a bulk purchase. I would say on many calls i attend it increases my response time by about 30 to 40 % depending on circumstances.
I think you’ll find they do.
But I think you mean sat navs by that statement which they don’t.
The hse says the shortest route isn’t always the best since when was Galway 2 hours from Roscommon, an ambulance travelling at 140 kph with siren and flashing lights should do that journey in 30 mins, somethings not right here
I’ve just put into the maps app on my iPhone a distance and time from Creggs (the accident scene) and Galway. It tells me the fastest route is 70kms and should take 1 hour 12 mins. If you factor in that the crew of a Paramedic and AP may have had to stop several times (I don’t know) to carry out an intervention such as IV, IO access, or to defibrillate the casualty, PLUS according to the article they went to Galway via a hospital in Ballinasloe, then the journey could have easily taken 2 hours.
We try to maintain a steady and safe transport, this ensures the least amount of problems for the casualty, such as tubed being dislodged etc. We certainly wouldn’t be driving on a regional or national route at 140kph as your comment states.
Also, judging by the map, even if Roscommon had been open and the crew had gone there, they would be driving AWAY from the Trauma Centre in Galway. We would tend to try get the patient towards definitive care as best we can, and the crew involved would have had the skill set to bypass Roscommon and head straight to Galway. By the way, I am NOT talking about the closure of A&E Depts, this is all MY opinion on what is best for the patient in that situation.
have your say