Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I am somewhat disappointed that neither the newly appointed Minister of State at the Departments of Health and Children, Education and Science, and Justice, Equality and Law Reform, nor the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform availed of the opportunity while in the House to tell us exactly where the savings are to be made and where the axe is to fall because it will fall. It is disappointing that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform did not tell us how he proposes to reduce the payroll in his Department by 3% by the end of 2009. The Minister spoke about inefficiencies and said he planned to make savings in the order of €5.5 million by addressing inefficiencies. However, he did not identify or if he did he did not inform the House of the inefficiencies where savings can be made.

He talked about a review of bodies and agencies associated with the Department. However, the specifics are sadly lacking. Does he propose to cut frontline gardaí or Garda overtime in an era of rising crime rates where gardaí on the beat and engaged in intelligence gathering have never been more vital? He received a warning from Department of Finance officials about the Garda overtime bill and yet he remains mute and silent about what is about to happen.

During the boom time successive Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform were happy to squander taxpayers' money. The last Government paid €30 million for the site at Thornton Hall, which was eight times the market value. The vastly inflated price that the then Minister was willing to hand over to buy land for a new prison is indicative of the attitude of the Government that squandered the country's hard-won wealth. According to the former Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, his Government colleagues partied like there was no tomorrow. Now we are paying for that and today is just the start of it.

Not every incident of waste by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is as obvious as the Thornton Hall saga. The bastion of the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, is also guilty of wasting money in more subtle ways. For example, every prisoner in the State is costing Irish taxpayers almost €100,000 per annum but our ability to rehabilitate prisoners is nil. Consequently, half of prisoners reoffend within four years of release, while 27% are back in prison within a year.

Money is also wasted in a myriad of other ways. For example, the criminal fraternity, which costs the State a fortune, is far better equipped than the Garda, which until recently had no place to engage in firearms training while gangs travelled overseas for target practice and expert training on a regular basis, a practice that has not been stopped. After ten years the Garda lacks a reliable digital radio service. In 1999, when the current Ceann Comhairle, Deputy O'Donoghue, was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, he promised that a national digital radio service for the emergency services would be fully operational by 2003. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has since squandered money on two pilot projects in the same Dublin area to test the technology and report on it. We were told earlier this year, after ten years, that contracts have been signed for a national scheme to replace the current obsolete technology. That announcement was made in fanfare of publicity. I am pleased that the use of spin doctors is to be reduced. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has since intervened to delay the process and, potentially, to undermine the recent contract agreement. How much has this mess cost the State at this stage? Is duplication or triplication of pilot projects one of the forms of inefficiency the Minister has isolated as a means of saving money in the future? We do not know because he has not told us.

My issue with spending in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform does not relate to how much is spent per se but to what the money is spent on. Is the money being spent wisely? I would have thought the Minister would have commented on that in his speech. How much has been spent on drugs task forces, for example? How much do we spend on all such quangos? We are spending money on Garda initiatives aimed at tackling illegal narcotics at a time when our coastline is wide open. Many of our ports and smaller airports are not much better. The Customs and Excise is resourced with a single cutter and a single container X-ray scanner to intercept the masses of illegal drugs coming into this country on an almost daily basis. Many of our private and smaller airports have never seen customs officials. They might as well not exist because they do not visit. Is it any surprise that the State is awash with drugs? Is it any surprise that cocaine abuse has trebled in the past five years? Is it any surprise that the level of heroin addiction has never been higher? Cost is the reason given for the Government's skeletal approach to customs. What is this disgraceful neglect ultimately costing the State and the citizen?

I would like to speak briefly about my constituency. I was interested to hear that gateway funding, under the much vaunted national spatial strategy of 2002, is to be slashed. It is disappointing that the strategy in question has been as much of a disaster as the failed decentralisation programme. The rate of unemployment in County Laois is the highest in the country. It has increased by approximately 60% in the past 12 months. IDA Ireland, which is the key Government agency responsible for attracting industry to the regions, has systematically neglected County Laois over many years. My constituency colleague, Deputy Fleming of Fianna Fáil, was quoted in a national newspaper today as saying he does not "believe the IDA even know where the county is". I respectfully suggest he might have a word in the ear of his party colleague, the Tánaiste, Deputy Coughlan, if he wishes to do something proactive about this problem. Portlaoise business park has just one tenant — it is a ghost park, in effect. It is not enough for the Government to take a "build it and they will come" approach. The Government and agencies such as IDA Ireland must be more active in bringing investors to the midlands, particularly the towns of counties Laois and Offaly.

The Minister for Education and Science said today that the VEC sector will suffer cutbacks. What impact will the cutbacks have on the provision of second-chance education, which is more vital than ever in counties such as Laois as the unemployment figures spiral out of control? What will happen to the rapidly increasing numbers of unemployed people in County Laois, mainly in the construction industry, now that the Government has decisively blown the boom? What solutions can the Government offer the county, which has the most rapidly rising unemployment figures in the State? I called last week on FÁS to engage in training and upskilling, but I learned today that the budget of that organisation is to be cut by €1 million. How does that tally with the need for training and upskilling in the interests of shortening dole queues?

I am aware of a primary school in Portlaoise that has been waiting ten years for a new complex. Over 15 months ago, the parish priest in the area spent €2.25 million on a site for the school. The Government took no action despite having been handed a free site. After ten years of economic boom, 80% of the children attending Scoil Bhríde in Knockmay are being taught in prefabricated classrooms. The Government's solution to this problem is to convert the local ice skating rink, which is supposed to operate as a recreational facility for young people, into an educational shanty town from next September.

The existing schools in Portlaoise, which is one of the fastest growing commuter towns in Leinster, are bursting at the seems. The State was willing to spend €22 million on fighting parents who were looking for special needs education for their children, but it is unwilling to provide the basic classroom infrastructure needed to educate the children of Portlaoise and the rest of County Laois. What is the future for the pupils and teachers in the county in this era of cuts?

The maternity unit at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise is a health and safety hazard. The proposed 50-bed unit will not be developed. While an accident and emergency unit has been built, it remains idle while patients and staff work in the old unit, in conditions that are reminiscent of the days of Charles Dickens. There is a shortage of beds for elderly people throughout County Laois who require residential care. The Minister for Health and Children has announced that the fair deal is not going ahead. There are ridiculous waiting lists in the midlands. Mammography services were suspended in Portlaoise after years of financial neglect eventually led to a crisis. Deputies will remember that the House debated this matter of life and death last autumn. Neither the Minister, Deputy Harney, nor the head of the HSE, Professor Brendan Drumm, visited the county to offer a solution to the problem. If such circumstances are being encountered in the good times, what hell will the sick and vulnerable of counties Laois and Offaly face in the era of cutbacks?

The Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, spoke about child care, for which he is responsible. Foster carers in counties Laois and Offaly have received correspondence that I regard as offensive. They have been informed that a stinging swathe of cuts would result in costs heretofore incurred by the HSE being passed on to them. The HSE officials in question, such as all Fianna Fáil Ministers for Finance in the past ten years, should hang their heads in shame. They have demonstrated nothing but incompetence. Elderly people, children and foster carers, the most vulnerable people in society, are about to pay the price, in terms of loss of quality of life, of the reduction in services. I will return to this most serious matter in the autumn. It is disappointing that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister of State with responsibility for youth justice are not here to listen to this important aspect of the debate.

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