Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the Bill because more than 60% of the people and 66% of those in Cork South-West voted in favour of the referendum on 31 May. That cannot be ignored by those who speak about there being a democratic deficit.

The Bill deals with the core issue of the functions of this House, namely, to raise taxes from citizens and provide that these moneys are spent for the benefit and in the best interests of all citizens properly and effectively. The reason the Bill is before us is that we have seen gross examples of fiscal irresponsibility in recent decades, mainly on the part of the main Opposition party, whose members are not present. During the period between 1997 and 2011, the Fianna Fáil-led Government expanded total Government expenditure from €23 billion to €76 billion. It more than trebled Government expenditure in 14 years or, to put it another way, in 1997 the then Government was spending approximately 40% of gross national product. When it left office last year the then Government was spending approximately 60% of gross national product. How one can call that responsible defies explanation. The result of the trebling of the national Exchequer debt from €39 billion in 1997 to a crippling €119 billion in 2011, or 94% of gross national product, has been catastrophic for the country.

One could ask where the money was spent and whether it was managed well for taxpayers or, as we suspect, if the then Government had bought the electorate with its own money or if it had borrowed the money and spent it on mismanaged projects with major cost overruns. Let us remind ourselves and commentators of approximately 20 examples of projects around the country initiated by Fianna Fáil-led Administrations between 1997 and 2011 which represented extremely bad value for taxpayers. Marina projects were railroaded through by Ministers in counties Kerry, Galway and Sligo, on which a total of €5.72 million was wasted. I will start with the smaller projects. A new passport system went over budget by €8 million. Overruns in the renovation of Farmleigh House came to €9 million. The Punchestown Centre - a huge white elephant - cost more than €14.8 million in mismanaged funds. A total of €18.9 million was wasted on the purchase of five properties that were never used in the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers. The refurbishment of Cork courthouse cost €25.35 million above and beyond what had been projected. We spent €26.5 million on the Thornton Hall prison site, yet not one sod has been turned. Who remembers MediaLab Europe? The sum of €35.5 million was wasted on it. There was a cost overrun of €37 million on the Kilkenny flood relief project. The cost of e-voting machines is put, conservatively, at €60 million which went down the Swanee. The cost of the extension of the medical card system to all persons over 70 years of age was underestimated by €60 million. Stadium Campus Ireland, otherwise known as the "Bertie Bowl", cost the State €100 million. The PPARS payroll system cost the State €160 million. Cost overruns and the under-estimation of pre-1953 pension entitlements are estimated at €201 million and counting. The cost overrun on the East Link and West Link toll bridge projects was €407 million. Cost overruns in the mismanagement of the Luas project amounted to €471 million. The cost underestimation for the Dublin Port tunnel amounted to €350 million. The cost of the decentralisation programme is €900 million and counting. The residential institutions redress scheme deal with the religious orders cost the State above and beyond what it should have by an estimated €1.2 billion. The construction costs of five major inter-urban dual carriageway or motorway routes reached €3.25 billion owing to cost overruns and mismanagement.

That is a small sample list of 20 projects I examined involving gross mismanagement and waste by Governments between 1997 and the previous election. It comes to a grand total of €7.331 billion. We could do with that capital investment now. I am reminded of the advertisement about insurance fraud which warned about someone “putting their hand in your pocket”. These projects which were mismanaged essentially cost €1,600 for every man, woman and child in the country. To put it another way, it was €10 million wasted for every Fianna Fáil Deputy who sat on the benches of this House in the ten years between 1997 and 2007. We now see the consequences.

The Independent Members in this House cannot even agree on whether one should pay the household tax. They are encouraging non-payment of a sustainable taxation measure that is being lauded by socialist groups across the globe. That defies logic. It is a great luxury that they can rant and rave across the floor and oppose every move to increase sustainable Exchequer income or reduce Exchequer expenditure.

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