Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I note that the Minister did not include a number of financial services companies and big players in the financial markets that were detailed in an article in the Sunday Independent. He might clarify that. Does the Minister understand how frustrated many ordinary taxpayers are about the privileged access of big players and wealthy interests to the Minister for Finance and indeed the Taoiseach and Government generally while the taxpayers who are paying to bail out many of these interests have no such access? In the past few days, we were given information about the nauseating level of gouging of the taxpayers by consultants to Irish Water to the tune of €50 million, all of whom have been players on the lucrative inside track for years and have received millions of funds from taxpayers' assets. Since the Minister assumed office three years ago, did any of these companies that were named by Uisce Éireann in the past few days and that were favoured by Uisce Éireann with lucrative contracts have meetings with him and if so, what was the subject of those meetings?

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