Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Every time I hear mention of a report or review right across the whole Government system, and it is endemic in it nowadays, I shudder. They will tell us that the review will be all done in five months, but that is not the case considering the time it takes for it to be done, published, sent out for public consultation, come back and so on. If a big review is required, that is fine, and it should be completed. In the meantime, the obvious should be done and that does not need a review. Action should be taken based on need. We are politicians and we are elected to make decisions. For argument's sake, if we were to appoint one of the witnesses as Minister tomorrow, they could go in and tell their colleagues that people cannot sleep another night in damp, wet, cold and miserable conditions, so we should immediately ensure that everybody who needs a trailer, gets one. They could also ensure that they deal with the issue so that sufficient money is provided to buy new trailers that are to standard. Who, of the Traveller groups or interested parties, would oppose that? I am making this point from experience in Government. We must be wary of grand plans and reviews, because a lot of the time they are more delaying mechanisms than mechanisms for bringing about change. If I might say so, there is a consultation process and then they do exactly what they intended to do in the beginning anyway. We should look at it from the other side of the table. When I was in Government, my view was that if, in my heart and soul, I could defend what I was going to do in the Dáil against all reasonable comment, then that is what I was elected to do.

Let me give my view on some of these matters. The pilot scheme was set up, and then there was a lot of kicking up, involving an ombudsman and all the rest. I still believe from the correspondence I have that the ombudsman in question had a reasonable effect on getting what we got. The Department came up with a measly scheme that had to be reviewed after one year. We have all agreed at this meeting. Suppose the Minister called in all the Traveller groups tomorrow and said he intended to give one week in which to submit a proposal but that he would take responsibility. Would the groups stop that Minister? We can get sucked into delays on the other side of this. I know I am talking tough but we can all get sucked into delays. The witnesses should remember I know this as I was a Minister. With regard to most of the schemes I created, I just created them and did not enter a long consultation process. I was able to adjust the schemes if an issue arose.

The witnesses may have heard of the rural social scheme. I will outline how it arose. There was a bit of a row between a few Ministers, and I saw my opportunity. I went to the then Taoiseach and he told me to go to the Minister for Finance. I went to the latter three days before the budget and he asked me to have a proposal on his desk at 9 o'clock the following morning. I came in at 7.30 a.m. and wrote up my proposal. The scheme proposed was the same as the one in force today. I put the proposal on the Minister's desk and had the scheme in three days. Was I right or wrong? Should I have entered some convoluted process or taken my chances, saying that if there was an issue, we could mend it.