Special Reports

This examination set out to review the extent to which the terms of the existing common contract were implemented in the acute hospital sector.

Over the past two decades the Department of Education and Science has introduced a range of specific measures to counter educational disadvantage. There were four main schemes implemented. Under these schemes, resources are provided for interventions at the level of schools, pupils, families and the wider community. In addition, as part of their ongoing educational effort, schools attempt to address the effects of disadvantage using their mainline resources and budgets. This report examines the utilisation of the specific funds devoted to combating educational disadvantage in primary schools. €61.8 million was spent to this end in the school year 2003-2004.

The Comptroller and Auditor General carried out an examination that identified the factors that gave rise to the rapid increase in expenditure, reviewed how well the Department managed the scheme and considered its future direction.

The State provided €877m to nonprofit organisations to provide health services to persons with disabilities in 2004.The examination focused on the arrangements between the State and the nonprofit sector for the provision of these services and the issues that will have to be addressed in future delivery of the services.

The examination was carried out due to value for money concerns in relation to the large escalation in the cost of the project from initiation to date , the extended timeframe over which the project was being implemented , the reduced functionality being delivered and whether the expected benefits are being realised. The examination also reviewed how the project was planned and governed including the adequacy of the business appraisal, how change management was handled and the arrangements for the procurement and management of consultancy and technical support services.

The Comptroller and Auditor General has published a report on a value for money examination of a sale of property by Shannon Development. The property in question was a plot of land measuring 3.5 acres at the Ennis Road, Limerick. The land had been transferred to Shannon Development by the IDA in 1988 but was not registered in the Land Registry, although an adjoining factory site was. The failure of the State agencies to protect the title to the property resulted in encroachment and a building company began dumping spoil on the land.

This examination was carried out to identify the level of output of waste in publicly-funded hospitals in Ireland, and the type of waste produced, the costs associated with the collection, handling, treatment and disposal of such waste and good practice in the management of waste in publicly-funded hospitals.

Public private partnerships (PPPs) are contractual arrangements under which private sector partners deliver projects and services that traditionally were delivered directly by the public sector. The concept involves the public sector partner specifying clearly the outputs and service levels required. Payment is subject to the agreed outputs and service levels being delivered by the private sector partner. This arrangement aims to give the private sector partner scope to decide how best to deliver what is required, with the potential to make efficiency improvements and reduce costs.

A current television licence is required in respect of all premises where televisions are kept. In June 2003, 1.35 million properties were licensable and the annual licence fee was €150. Licence fee income, net of collection costs, is made available for public service broadcasting. The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (the Department) has overall responsibility for the management of the licence fee collection process. The challenge in managing the collection of television licence fees is to ensure that licence fee collection is as cost effective as possible while ensuring that the requirement to have a licence is enforced and evaders are pursued.

This examination focused on the operations of the Service over the period 1995 to 2002.

The examination considered whether review and control activity is informed by an assessment of the risk of fraud and error attaching to the different types of welfare payment and the effectiveness, in practice, of the Department’s reviews in recovering and deterring overpayments and how it evaluated its performance in that regard.

Although initially intended to be a short-term initiative, the WLI has been funded each year since 1993 at a total cost of €246 million. Over two-thirds of this funding (€172m) was spent in the five-year period focused on by this examination, 1998 to 2002.

An examination of the management and operation of the BMS in the period 1998-2001 was carried out to establish the reasons for the reported loss.My examination revealed that the accounts produced did not isolate the true results of the BMS’s business with government departments and offices.

In the audit report, the C&AG indicated that he was undertaking an examination of the provision of the multi-story car park with a view to preparing a special report on the matter. This is the resulting report.

The examination set out to review how well the appeals system is managed and how its effectiveness is evaluated by the Board and by the Department of the Environment and Local Government (the Department).

This examination of the purchasing of tyres for the Garda Síochána was carried out to establish if, in the period 1998-2000, there was a loss of economy in the purchase of tyres by the Garda Síochána, and if so, how great was the loss, to establish if the tendering and procurement procedures for tyres for the Garda Síochána accorded with best practice and to establish the level of control over payment for tyres in the Garda Síochána.

This examination was carried out to identify and evaluate the extent to which the ERI achieved its objectives in the period 1997-2000.

The examination set out to review training and development activity across the civil service with a view to assessing how it could be improved in terms of its organisation, management and overall effectiveness.

This examination aimed primarily to establish how efficiently and effectively the fines system operates in relation to cases within the jurisdiction of the District Court.

This examination is concerned with the operation of the scheme and its outcome to date, some eighteen years after its introduction. The examination assessed how the scheme is implemented and how the implementing agencies measure the impact of the scheme on those in need and the systems and procedures in place to evaluate the scheme’s overall effectiveness.