Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Taoiseach said the Government is facing up to the situation in which we find ourselves and that on budget day on 14 October it will have a balanced and coherent plan. The Government produced a balanced and coherent plan, or so he said, in July when its projections for the deficit were €3 billion and it projected a 3% reduction in payroll across every Department.

I saw the Taoiseach yesterday in Cuffesgrange but I did not get a chance to speak with him because he was busy. I was amused to hear him say that we have to buckle down and cut out waste of public money. The reason I was amused to hear the Taoiseach say that is because the Comptroller and Auditor General's report points to dysfunctional budgeting in the HSE, for the Minister for Health and Children, a situation where 200 new Garda cars were held in storage for 15 months because they could not be used, that the Irish Prison Service entered into 60 contracts worth €18 million without seeking competitive quotes and payments were made in respect of Border allowances for troops ten years after the peace process concluded. Who was the Minister for Finance who presided over all this waste?

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