Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis na finnéithe as na cuir i láthair. The current anger and frustration among the public about this is palpable. The reason is that this issue is not unique. The Gucci bike shed is simply the tip of the iceberg regarding Government waste and public delivery of infrastructure. It is really damaging for citizens because we are incinerating hard-earned taxpayers' money. Moreover, as the delivery of infrastructure is grinding to a halt, people cannot consume the infrastructure they need. The bike shed is emblematic of all that. It is amazing that in the four-page document we received from the OPW, nowhere did it say who was the contractor that delivered the project. It is startling that the individual contractor that delivered that project was not named anywhere.

There are two elements to my questioning and why that is important. I want to look at the political oversight and the actual oversight within the OPW. The owner of Sensori was within the public domain in the Oireachtas in a big way for making corporate donations to a senior Minister who did not record those properly with the Standards in Public Office Commission. That was a serious issue at the time. I know, from looking at the diary of that Minister, namely, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, who is now the senior Minister in charge of the OPW, that he met the owner of Sensori in the same month that Sensori won the contract with the OPW. The owner of Sensori then sold his 50% share in December for €23 million at a profit of €17 million. That contract elevated the net worth of Sensori one month after the contract was won and one month after the owner met the Minister.

Has the current Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Donohoe, been in contact with the OPW at any stage regarding these procurement measures for the rolling contracts with these two suppliers?