Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

Is it the case again that everybody is out of step but the Minister? Does everybody not agree that it was a disgraceful waste of public money? Does everybody not also agree with the headline in The Irish Times that it was an expensive blunder? The Minister referred to consultation. There was no consultation. Does the Minister not accept that this farm did not emerge from the original process and that the entire transaction was slipped through almost in the dark of night, that it took place in a matter of seven days, that there was no local public consultation and that in regard to comparative values, a farm within a couple of kilometres of the farm in question was sold two months later for €26,000 an acre, which would have been far more suitable for a prison?

The Minister spent €30 million of taxpayers' money and he still tries to justify it. Does the Minister not accept that if somebody were starting a sweetshop he would not put him in as manager because his business expertise——

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