Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Department of An Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Office of the Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 4 - Central Statistics Office (Revised)
Vote 5 - Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Revised)
Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source
We have a capital envelope for the period to 2021. Some €275 million has been allocated for this from the State's point of view. There has been an estimation, factored into our budgetary arithmetic, based on a figure of €500 million. Regardless of the way in which the Taoiseach wants to play with the words, there is a spectacular overrun on this project, if it ever sees the light of day. There has been a spectacular underestimation. If the Government continues to underestimate the cost of capital projects as it is doing with the national broadband plan or national children's hospital, this country will soon be calling for the IMF again. This never happened in the worst days of underestimation of capital projects. It never happened under Fianna Fáil at that level.
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