Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply, but is there a case for a review of the existence of these committees? It was revealed that the justice reform committee had not met since March, but the extraordinary debacle concerning the drink driving tests and the undermining of the criminal justice system via 146,000 people being wrongfully summonsed to court happened under that committee's watch apparently without it or the Tánaiste knowing about it. We have been hearing about justice reform since the days of the former Minister, Alan Shatter. Clearly, the committee has not been working. Likewise with health. The health system has been experiencing significant issues and incredible pressures since 1 January and the full scale of last year's funding gap has been confirmed. The commitments on mental health that were made in the confidence and supply agreement have not been realised. Waiting times for children to access the child and adolescent units are growing. The shortage of staff is as high as 50% in some places.

In many respects, the efficacy of these Cabinet committees are highly questionable. For example, recent years are characterised by an underwhelming commitment to physical infrastructure, with many announcements but little in the way of delivery. The capital plan that was announced just before the general election was very much about that election, with everything backloaded to the last two years.

Broadband has been an issue. There have been many delays. The Minister, Deputy Naughten, or someone else should explain to the House how his announcement yesterday regarding eir tallies with the tender situation. When we met the officials with some of the Independents at the time of the Government's formation, ensuring that the tender was undertaken properly and carefully so that it would not be subject to legal action was a major issue. Unless I am reading the situation wrongly, and I would appreciate clarification, yesterday's announcement seemed to run counter to the advice that we were given at the time. It was strange, given that everyone had been waiting for the tender's announcement so that we could progress the wider issue of broadband access in rural Ireland. We have had too many false dawns and announcements. People's hopes have been raised but little has happened. There must be scrutiny of whether yesterday's announcement was in line with the Department's broadband tender operation.

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