Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste said in the House today that the strategic communications unit was set up to communicate with the electorate. Instead it has turned out to be a Fine Gael propaganda unit. We should call it the "huff and puff and do nothing" unit at a cost of €5 million to the taxpayer.

This certainly was a mistake. They say that a bad law is an unjust law. The strategic communications unit, SCU, is unjust. The €5 million cost of the SCU could go a long way towards providing extra special needs assistants, SNAs. It could help in the areas of health or housing. It could be used to assist people with special needs and the elderly. It could help provide for a special wheelchair for a three year old child in east Cork, which another Deputy mentioned recently. I myself sourced two wheelchairs for constituents last week. That says a lot about how bad this country is. We need a reality check on this. The €5 million could fund aspects of mental health care. It could help to pay our Garda and members of the Defence Forces. It could help fill potholes in east Cork. Money can be spent in much better ways, but this Government prefers political spin over investing in the very people it is supposed to represent. The money could be spent on redress for the survivors of the mother and baby homes.

The SCU is a mistake. It must be disbanded. We must use taxpayers' money wisely and invest it to assist people and not spend it on political spin. I urge the House to support the Sinn Féin motion.

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