Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

It is well past the time for a wake up call. The alarm bells have long been ringing about the way our public finances are being managed. People want to see change. It is not enough for the Minister to repeat the mantra that the Government is committed to the NDP. The latter is important, particularly if it is delivered effectively, on time and on budget and if the projects relating to it stand up to scrutiny. Taxpayers should not be asked to issue a blank cheque. If the Minister is serious about this matter, he should publish the evaluations relating to NDP projects in order that we might say that they will deliver value for money. He should also outline prior commitments to the policy frameworks that will surround capital investment. Time and again money has been invested in expensive capital projects and then mismanaged subsequently.

It is time for the public sector and the Government to face up to real change. What we should have been presented with today was a decision to suspend the big pay increases and make them conditional on performance. We should have insisted that every public body should deliver independently audited efficiencies of at least 2% in 2008. We should also have initiated immediate audits in respect of all agencies. Such audits would have brought about the far-reaching rationalisation of those agencies. Why do we have a taxi regulator, an aviation regulator and a bus regulator? Why not a single transport regulator? Why do we have a health insurance regulator and a financial regulator? Why are the two not integrated?

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