Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

The Comptroller and Auditor General's report comes around with groundhog day inevitability, an annual litany of sheer incompetence and bungling. The theme song for this annual report should be the traditional tune of Quare Bungle Rye. Year after year, we return to the glaring waste and mismanagement of millions of euro in taxpayers' money. I have no doubt that similar situations will arise in future years.

I have yet to learn of any individual being brought to account for the intolerable cost overruns and wanton waste outlined in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. This contrasts with the State's enthusiasm in pursuing social welfare fraud. Some 46 people went to jail for misappropriating less than €500,000. I do not suggest that fraudsters should go unpunished but what is happening to our public funds is a type of fraud, yet nobody has been held to account.

An example of shameful mismanagement occurred in my constituency, where €12 million which was handed back by Waterways Ireland could have been spent in the area. A shining example of cross-Border co-operation could have involved improvements in the infrastructure of the Ulster canal. This represents the mismanagement of public money. At this juncture in the peace process, the canal's re-opening would demonstrate the Government's intentions to renew and revitalise all-Ireland infrastructures. The tragedy in this matter is that the money was available but was handed back.

The Health Service Executive has an end of year budget, from which various sections receive funding to buy, for example, paint or pictures to decorate rooms. However, it is not possible to get the funds to buy a nappy for a patient. These are the type of issues we will have to investigate because funds cannot be transferred from one area to another. It leads to irresponsible spending at the end of the year. If people discover that they have money to spend, they will spend it come hell or high water. This situation also obtains among local authorities, which dig up streets during Christmas each year because budget money must be spent.

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