Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I seek the Ceann Comhairle's indulgence before I ask my Leaders' question. I understand there has been a bad crash on O'Connell Street, Dublin, between a Luas tram and a bus. I wonder if the Minister for Transport might take an opportunity during the afternoon to report to the House on it and perhaps to exchange views with transport spokespersons.

The Taoiseach is asking the people to bear a very heavy load. The legislation the Government will bring before the House will mortgage the future of taxpayers for decades to come. He is asking people to consider increases in taxation and cuts in pay. People are already losing jobs and businesses. It is a very difficult time. While the Taoiseach is asking people to do that, we are being informed on a weekly and daily basis of the extent of the waste of taxpayers' money which his Government has presided over for the past number of years.

Last week the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on FÁS was issued. FÁS was going to hold a raffle. It bought a car for the raffle. The raffle was never held and the car disappeared. It ordered a television advertisement for €600,000 which was never screened. In fairness to the board of FÁS, its members have done the decent thing and offered their resignations. However, the Minister, Deputy Cullen, who was responsible for expenditure 100 times that of the television advertisement and spent some €60 million buying an electronic voting system that was never used, has not resigned and came out at the weekend to justify it.

On top of that, we learn of the splurging and indulgence of ministerial expenses over the period of that Government. I acknowledge the Ceann Comhairle's letter of apology he issued today, but it suggests that this was by no means the exception and appears to be the norm.

I saw the Taoiseach giving a number of newspaper and television interviews during the summer recess and I want to put a question to him this afternoon. Does he accept that the Government he served in for 12 years, during which he was responsible for the Government's finances for four years and which he now leads was responsible for a huge waste of taxpayers' money? Will he apologise to the Irish people for that waste of taxpayers' money?

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