Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As Mr. McMahon will be aware, there are five or six cafes plus caterers in the zoo and at other points in the park. Many of them are small businesses. In fact, as with the walled garden and the organic vegetables, it is fantastic. I was merely surprised that none of them seemed to have been involved in being preferred caterers, other than being asked to be open. Clearly, when staff and members of the Garda were working in the final days of the preparation, they had more business. I am really concerned. My understanding is that Actavo is part of Mr. Denis O'Brien's commercial interests and he is either the managing director or chairperson of that company.

There are many small cafes in the park and I am not aware that they are part of bigger conglomerates. I merely wonder what role, if any, did such businesses in the food sector, which could involve people from Kilkenny, Carlow or anywhere around Ireland, play in the papal mass. Everything seemed to be stamped "Actavo". The company seemed to dominate everything in what was a world conference. Normally, one would expect local providers. I am aware the Pope's visit was not confirmed until late. I want to be fair but I would like to know about that.

There were Ed Sheeran concerts in the park earlier in the year which, I am told, were fabulously successful but I am not aware that a ha'penny of any of the money made on them went back into the park. I accept there is an estimate here for the railings. For those who might not know the park, the railings are historically important and practically must be remade by expert craftspeople over a long period. I understand that. In the case of the Bloom festival, for example, there was considerable traffic congestion all around the park for days and residents were basically locked in their homes. Can the OPW confirm whether anything went back into the park from the Bloom receipts and the Ed Sheeran concerts?

Much work needs to be done in the park. I commend the OPW on the work it has commenced on the Magazine Fort, in reinstating what is a bit of a ruin and a wreck, and which will eventually be a world-class attraction for Dublin. I am aware, from acquaintances who are working on that project, that it will take years because there is an insufficient supply of funding. Significant events are being run in the park, they are packed out but yet the park itself, and for that matter, the OPW, seem to be getting nothing back. Did any money from the Bloom festival or from the super-successful, fantastic Ed Sheeran concerts go towards park infrastructure? I ask because local residents agreed to put up with a lot of disruption on the understanding there would be a dividend for both the park and the OPW for all of the infrastructure it looks after well around the country. I put it to the OPW that there needs to be a return from these important public events and I would like an account of it.

All I can say is whoever organised the Pope's visit - it was not the OPW, as it was a taker of orders based on a Government decision - scared most older people in Ireland into thinking that they could not do a two-mile walk up the main avenue. Those in charge of health and safety went overboard. People in wheelchairs were not allowed on the main avenue. Buses, which could have picked up many participants, were not allowed on the main avenue. Did the church group, which was organising it, call the shots on that? There needs to be a re-evaluation.

During the first papal visit to Ireland years ago, there were none of these holding pens and gates. For many, these destroyed the visit because where a family booked four tickets, they got one ticket for one gate, a ticket for another gate and a further ticket for yet another gate. The park walls, as I am sure the OPW officials will be aware, are nine miles long. Can the officials imagine a case where a person's mother gets a ticket for one gate, the person's ticket is for a gate two miles away, her husband's ticket is for a gate two miles away from there and the person's granny's ticket is for a gate a further two miles away. Whoever designed that system, it was mental. Many elderly people, people in wheelchairs and people with weaker health, who were among those who were keenest to see the Pope in person, were told they were putting themselves at threat.

The third aspect I want to ask about is the big bill for medical aid.

Is that in addition to what the Irish Red Cross and the Civil Defence were doing? They are based in the Department. I will finish on this one.