Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

I smiled when the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government said that councillors must heed the need for competitiveness. When they look at the Estimates, councillors will find that statement difficult to take. The Estimates involved quite an amount of inaction. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, referred to spending on transport but he failed to come to grips with the cost of congestion. The latter costs businesses approximately €3 billion per year. In an IBEC survey, 89% of businesses indicated that they bear the cost of congestion and that it has an adverse effect on their operations. The Minister of State's direction to councillors to heed the need for competitiveness and extract large amounts of money from businesses through rates will not go down well with such businesses, particularly when one considers the effect of congestion on their operations. The Government should go back to the drawing board before dictating to councillors on the importance of competitiveness.

The Minister for Finance did not refer to the biggest elephant in the room. He spoke about water and waste but he never mentioned climate change. The cost of the latter will really affect the Estimates in the future. That cost already stands at €1 billion in respect of carbon and it is growing all the time. We will be obliged to pay this amount — or between €2 million and €4 million each week — in addition to the country's normal running costs in the period 2008 to 2012 on foot of ineffective Government. That matter must be tackled but the Estimates do not appear to take account of it. Perhaps action will be taken in the budget.

Money is certainly being spent on water services. However, it is not being invested in water conservation and is being spent instead on supply. The position is similar to one having a leaky tap and being obliged to keep the plug in the bath. We would save a great deal of money if we were to examine the possibilities with regard to water conservation.

The happy campers in all of this are the builders. They are making a great deal of money and the Government is benefiting as a result. The revenue being accrued is welcome but the cost involved is being levied on taxpayers who are obliged to pay high energy bills and who must take account of the amount of water they use because the houses being built do not include conservation mechanisms. In international terms, housing standards in Ireland are extremely poor. That is one of the reasons builders would resist Fianna Fáil getting its act together. As a result, they continue to benefit.

I also smiled when the Minister of State referred to the value for money principle. Value for money does not seem to have impinged to any great degree on the Department of Transport, which wants to construct a new runway at Dublin Airport. A cost-benefit analysis was not carried out in that regard and billions of euro are going to be poured into that black hole. In light of the fact that traffic congestion in the Dublin area will make it extremely difficult to proceed with and operate the proposed runway, it is ironic that the Minister of State referred to the need to obtain value for money. Perhaps the Minister for Finance will call on his colleagues in Government to insist that cost-benefit analyses should be carried out before vast amounts of money are spent. We could thereby avoid a great deal of waste.

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