The Tánaiste has told the Dáil that all spending on technology by the Health Service Executive will have to be vetted by both the Department of Finance and the Department of Health.
Mary Harney was responding to concerns raised by the Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, about a website designed to be an Internet health services portal. The project has now been scrapped.
The Tánaiste said the portal would be replaced by a smaller project at a cost of €250,000.
Meanwhile, the Government has announced new rules for running computer projects to try to avoid any repetition of recent problems in the health service.
The rules follow the controversy surrounding cost overruns for the PPARS payroll system that was introduced throughout the Health Service Executive.
New controls will involve a cross-departmental team of senior civil servants with a track record of bringing IT projects in on time and on budget, overseeing existing and new major projects.
They will also be able to bring in external expertise from the private sector and internationally, where necessary.
The review process will apply at various stages over the life cycle of the project, to ensure that it can progress successfully to the next stage, and to gain more realistic time and cost targets.
Ministers will also have to confirm that any money spent on consultancy in their departments is necessary in time for next year's Estimates.
The Department of Finance is to review existing guidelines on the commissioning and management of consultancies to ensure best practice is followed.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has accused Fine Gael of a political lie over claims of a cost over run on a new passport system.
He said that only €360,000 was being spent on royalties for the software technology used, rather than the €5m claimed by Fine Gael frontbencher Bernard Allen.
Speaking during an adjournment debate in the Dáil tonight Mr Ahern said a figure of €4.7 million highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General related to the cost of state of the art passport booklets capable of holding digital information.
