Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

The motion asks the House to commend the Minister for Finance for presenting the Book of Estimates. This is a parliamentary device and the Government has taken a minimalist approach in having such a debate. I am certain the Minister does not require his ego to be stroked and that he is confident in his own abilities. I am also certain, however, that many of those who speak on the Government benches will do precisely that in the course of this debate.

Our job, as Opposition spokespersons, is not to stroke the Minister's ego. We have significant concerns, not only about what is proposed to be spent next year but also the manner in which that expenditure will be managed. I am disappointed that, despite promises in this regard, little has changed in the presentation of the Estimates figures. We are, once again, presented with a set of global figures for Government spending, both current and capital, for each Department. There is little concrete information that would help us as legislators to analyse whether public money is being spent effectively.

It would be helpful if the Estimates figures were to show the largest spending items in each Department and how these compared with expenditure figures in previous years. The generic headings in the Book of Estimates, as in every previous year, do little to inform us as legislators or the public. We only learn of the detail of the Estimates through subsequent pronouncements by the Minister for Finance and other Ministers. This does not help the process and I hope the Minister's commitment towards reform in this area will become more evident in the short time remaining to the Government before the next general election.

The job of an Opposition spokesperson in this area is a difficult one. It would be churlish to rail against the expenditure of almost €55 billion. The reality, however, is that important questions remain to be asked as to whether the allocations under each heading for each Department are precisely the wisest choices, particularly in the light of our experiences of the Government since 1997 and how public money has been wantonly spent in several key public expenditure areas.

The Minister has tried to make virtue out of necessity in several areas. He is undoubtedly aware of the well known observation regarding lies, damned lies and statistics. His speech was loaded with statistics that are creatively explained. His lauding of the rail safety programme as one of the Government's major areas of expenditure since 1997 refers to what was very much an expenditure of necessity. It was precisely because of the neglect of successive Governments, in most of which the Minister's party was involved, that the decline of the rail network advanced to such a sorry state. Despite huge expenditure of €750 million, we have not seen one inch of additional rail track.

It is for this reason that I look askance at new public expenditure proposals. As a Cork representative, there is an expectation that by 2008 we may see the first reopening of a rail line since the closure of railway lines in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. We have yet to see, however, whether the Government has the imagination to put in place a public transport infrastructure that reflects the way in which the country has been allowed to develop in all the wrong ways in many cases, as my colleague and party leader, Deputy Sargent, observed during Leaders' Questions.

The question of whether public expenditure is being managed effectively in the area of public transport, in particular, was brought home to me last week in the aftermath of my initial response to the Book of Estimates. I travelled to Heuston Station to take a 7 p.m. train home to my constituency. That train did not depart, however, and two new trains that were to follow were cancelled by Irish Rail. I arrived home at 1 a.m. Given the many millions of euro that have been pumped, in a haphazard and unplanned way, into buying new rail stock and improving the rail network, what does the reality of rail travel for many passengers say about public expenditure in infrastructural projects in general?

These are the questions that the Minister and the Government have not asked themselves. A major act of mass hand-washing is taking place in regard not only to providing and spending resources but also in making sure the resources provided are managed in a way that offers value for money. This is something that is apparent across a broad range of public expenditure areas.

Another instance of the curious use of statistics in the Minister's speech is his reference to the waiting times for common surgical procedures being reduced from five months to two. We first need a definition of "common" and how such procedures differ from others. The Minister must be aware, as is every other Member of the House, that the position on waiting lists has changed from those who require services from our hospitals to those waiting simply to see a consultant who will make the decision on whether a medical procedure is required. If the €14 billion to be spent in the health service is being used merely to transform one waiting list into another type, what measure of success can the Government claim? The Minister for Finance and his colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, must answer more forthrightly for their stewardship of the health service.

The issue that is ignored in the Estimates is climate change and the effects it may have on future economic development if it is not tackled effectively. The Minister merely paid lip service to this issue in his last budget with several initiatives such as the promise to establish a carbon fund, enabling legislation for which has not yet been introduced in the House more than a year later. At least we now have the benefit of the British Government's Stern report to show us there is an intrinsic link between environmental degradation and possible dangers to economic development because of the failure to act on environmental responsibilities. If the Minister wants his stewardship of the economy to be seen in a stronger light, it is not only fiscal budgeting for which he has responsibility but also resource budgeting. If the latter is not acted upon, whatever is put in place will be undermined by the failure to take proper decisions.

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