Mr. John Dunne:

I wish to communicate three concepts. We clearly understand the situation with regard to public finances but we challenge whether the cutbacks that are happening are those that need to happen or are the best choice. Many things that can be done need not cost a penny or can be financed out of existing budget frameworks. The third point, which I want to highlight most, is that there is a focus on cutbacks in the budget discussion. We must recognise that the vast majority of expenditure is going ahead and our concern is that, increasingly, the expenditure is being poorly spent. Yesterday, before another committee, we debated the fact that much money is being wasted. Unfortunately, because it is being examined as a headline figure, each budget is being ticked as being acceptable. It is possibly a bigger issue than the marginal cutbacks. If members want to explore the concept, I will discuss it later.