Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I welcome the attendance of the Minister for Finance and recognise that he has not yet completed 12 months in office. Although many of the projects referred to arose from decisions taken while he was in other Departments, he was, nevertheless, at the Cabinet table.

It will probably be argued that inflation was the big demon and main cause of our problems. We will hear it was at such a level that over the period between the original provision of the estimate and the completion of the final contract it accounted for the main cause of the increase in costs. Although, on the surface, this anonymous, objective animal called inflation has nothing to do with the Government, I contend the contrary is the case. No Government in the history of the State entered office with the economy in such a buoyant state as the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition which took power in 1997. The economy had been growing for three or four years following a difficult period and internationally the macroeconomic circumstances of the European Union were particularly benign. Interest rates, for example, were falling because of the convergence of the currencies around what became the euro.

The response of the Government to this positive macroeconomic climate was to pour fuel on the fire. As a result of unnecessary tax cuts, particularly in the capital gains area, the economy spun out of control. Cost inflation roared relative to other economies and much of the money that became available was invested in the construction industry, which was simply let rip. If any Minister, including the Minister for Finance, wants to suggest that inflation, by some invisible hand, created the cost difficulties associated with the various projects to which my colleagues referred, he or she must first examine what lay behind it by asking why it was higher here than in other European countries and why construction inflation was much higher here than among our EU partners.

I and my Labour Party colleagues do not accept that something is wrong with the public service or that we have a genetic defect which has caused us to fail to plan properly or take the steps we need to take. We recently celebrated a successful Irish Presidency, staffed by the same people who others now attempt to blame as being incompetent or incapable of doing their jobs. Public servants have been given bad political leadership. The value for money unit function in the Department of Finance under the former Minster for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, failed. Either it was not commissioned or was decommissioned, or it was not allowed to give its clear, coherent point of view. The control systems available were not properly used or were not upgraded to carry out the task.

Instead of a national development plan, we had a national expenditure plan which was not co-ordinated between different arms of Government. According to a reply I received in the House many years ago from the then Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, the Taoiseach was supposed to be the project manager of the national development plan. An examination of the management of the plan shows that keeping an eye on costs and cross-referencing them in areas of expenditure is simply not a credible proposition. For this reason, in addition to giving the Dáil much greater scrutiny of expenditure, as outlined by Deputy Burton, value for money units must be re-established in the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Finance as well as in other big spending areas. We must enable and equip our public service personnel with the necessary skills, manpower and expertise to do this task.

It is ironic that a country whose people, by virtue of emigration to the United States and Britain over a period of 150 years, have acquired a reputation for having a particular aptitude for building and development in the private and public sectors of the two countries I mentioned, can have a thriving private sector but makes a complete mess of its public sphere. There must be an explanation which goes beyond inflation and blaming the public service. That explanation rests with unco-ordinated Government leadership and ministerial responsibility.

I share a constituency with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and any other role one cares to ascribe to him. At private and public meetings, some of which I have heard about while others I have attended, he has excoriated the legacy the Government parties inherited when they entered Government and suggested the relative failure of the State over the previous two to three decades was a result of a social democratic bias which inevitably lead to a tax and spend mentality that swamped enterprise, snuffed out individual merit and deprived the nation of the vigours of uncontrolled private enterprise.

The same Minister is perhaps the most spectacular sinner when it comes to having a cavalier attitude to tax and waste. As Deputy Burton noted, the rushed and extraordinary decision to buy a farm in north County Dublin for €30 million to build a prison when other farms in the area had gone for sale for €4 million to €6 million is inexplicable. The figure in question amounted to an overrun of many multiples, but the Minister, in a clip on a "Prime Time" programme, defended his position, pooh-poohed any suggestion that his decision was wrong or rushed and showed a cavalier attitude. He continually talks about taxing and spending and attributes wasteful expenditure to the Opposition parties. There can be no better example of waste than the purchase in question, a case for which he had personal responsibility. Is there any sign that he will make himself accountable for his actions or at least apologise for them in the House?

Meanwhile, across the river in the national theatre, a State company, the managing director chose to resign because its figures were wrong by €900,000 and the artistic director departed earlier than he had intended. The two individuals in question took responsibility for a clear case of mismanagement in the company. If senior management in private sector companies, which the Minister, Deputy McDowell, and most of the Fianna Fáil Party love so much, had the same track record as senior management in Government, namely, the Cabinet, they would be obliged by shareholders at minimum to resign, if not attempt to pay back some of the money. Too many worthwhile social projects are being denied necessary funds because of the wilful waste of this Administration.

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