James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has always shown great interest in the management of waste. This is about waste. Deputies O'Dowd and Hogan spoke about the aspirations of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority to develop the docklands area and to have the dual objective of promoting balanced community development through the use of sponsorships, social support, etc. What is the DDDA now? It is an extraordinary quango for the golden circle. Names have been mentioned and they will be mentioned again because they keep turning up.

For a long time in this country, there has been a sense of the elite, the untouchables and the inside track and this problem with which we are faced confirms that. A site bought for €412 million may now be worth €50 million which is a loss of more than €300 million. That is extraordinary, in particular on the night before one of the most hard-hitting budgets the country will ever have had, or may ever have, to endure. This afternoon the Taoiseach said there was not 10%, or €2 billion, fraud in our social welfare system. He said everyone one this side of the House would accuse everyone on social welfare of being fraudulent. Nothing could be further from the truth but we all know there is abuse. A programme on television last night showed that quite clearly. The level of that abuse will be very difficult to assess unless there is clarity surrounding PPS numbers. Until we have clarity, there will be difficulties in that area. That has been due for 11 years but nothing has happened. However, I do not want to digress down that road.

I wish to talk about the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and the cosy relationships between people on the board of that authority, the board of Anglo Irish Bank and well known developers. As has been pointed out, any developer would give his or her right arm to be in the same room as the people who give out planning permissions. It was a nonsensical arrangement and there were so many conflicts of interest that it beggared belief. It is worth mentioning again that Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. FitzPatrick resigned from Anglo Irish Bank in December 2008 as they both had joint loans which had been transferred to Irish Nationwide Building Society at year end so as not to appear on the bank's published accounts.

This country is in a state of stasis and crisis. People have lost faith. This Government has managed, through its inept leadership, to turn the public sector against the private sector and to create situations on television where public and private workers are fighting with each other. That is not the way this country was before and it is not the sort of leadership we need. We need a leadership which unites us in our difficulties and helps us face them together.

The ordinary worker on €15,000 per year was hit with a pension levy of 1% and yet a man who destroyed his own bank and the banking system of the country walks off somewhere to play golf on €0.5million per year. These are the sorts of issues that cause social unrest. If they are not addressed and if we do not put in place proper regulation and proper legislation, which is what this Bill attempts to do, then I fear for the future of this country. The ordinary man or woman on the street is no longer prepared to put up with this. They will take the pain if they know we will all share in the gain at the other end and if we all share the pain together. However, this episode shows us this is not the case. It is one rule for the ordinary citizen and it is another one for the elite, the golden circle and the well connected cronies of mainly Fianna Fáil.

CIE was mentioned and I refer to the HSE and all the waste which occurs there. Five years ago, a premises in Lusk was purchased by the HSE for €1.7 million but it lies boarded up because somebody did not do his or her homework and realise it would not get fire safety certificates. How much has that cost? What could we have had for that money? Let us make it real for people.

When people hear about hundreds of millions of euro, they think it is Monopoly money and that it is a disgrace. However, it is money which could have paid for the cervical cancer vaccine for children and could have started the colorectal cancer screening service. That alone could have saved 400 lives per year. It could have built the cystic fibrosis unit in St. Vincent's hospital for which we have fought so hard and so long. It could have put in place the psychiatric unit in Beaumont Hospital for which planning was received in 2004 and which has been put on the back burner again because of private co-location, which the Minister, Deputy Gormley, opposed when on this side of the House and which he is now allowing to happen. Some 23 women in one ward and 23 men in another with 2 ft. between their beds share a bank of three toilets and two showers.

One year ago I raised the issue of an unemployment exchange for people who were facing their first Christmas unemployed and who are now facing their second Christmas unemployed. There is still no exchange in Balbriggan and Swords which is a proper and fit premises. Balbriggan is the eight worst area for unemployment in the country with an increase of 282% on last year. We could have had a secondary schools in Lusk and various other places.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is being afforded an opportunity by Deputy Hogan and Fine Gael to put in place legislation which will tackle all quangos, not only this one. The Comptroller and Auditor General is the regulator which stands head and shoulders above all others in this country in its ability to do the right thing by the public and seek out waste. It does so without fear or favour. I commend the Bill to the House.

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