Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The cross-city service could not get across O'Connell Bridge. It blocked the traffic because it was too long. These fellows designed it and, I suppose, they never measured the bridge. They did not care. Giving this amount money to consultants, against which the Minister railed for decades, is anathema to ordinary taxpayers. It is outrageous. The Minister's Department paid AECOM €1.3 million in 2017 for - wait for it - an evaluation of sustainable transport areas. It might do in the Bronx or Washington, but it is not fit for Dublin. That is for what we are paying the money of hard-pressed taxpayers. As we have no figures for what the Minister is giving to these whizz kids in 2018, we do not know what they are getting. We have no idea what he will pay them in 2018 as that detail has not been provided. This is unbelievable stuff and he then runs out of the Chamber when he expects someone to come into it to challenge him.

On the face of it, there is one clear winner in all of this and it is not rural Ireland. It is not Dublin either, the capital city. However, even if we leave aside the private consultancy fees paid, it has also been confirmed to me that the Department paid a separate sum of €544,000 in 2017 in "incidental expenses". I wonder if it was for camera footage after taking pictures of Deputy Danny Healy-Rae at the all-Ireland final. The Minister did not know where Croke Park was two years ago; I had to show him where it was. I also had to show him where Jones Road was. That is the kind of man we have, but Government Members are happy to sit with him and make excuses for him when he disappears. That is with what we are dealing. As I said, the figure is €544,000 in incidental expenses. He would have written such an article on the back page of the Sunday Independentand if he was still in opposition, it would not fit on the back page. It is spend, spend, spend and get me here, get me there, get me anywhere. They - the Minister, the Minister of State, Deputy John Halligan, and the others - were going to go to meet Kim Jong-un, but the Minister did not go and stay there. Again, it is €100,000 more than the entire budget for the rural bus link scheme.

The figure for incidental expenses in the Department was €544,000, whereas the peasants can go back to their caves as far as the Minister is concerned, with a sum of €450,000 provided for services in the country as a whole. That is the insulting way he talks to all of us. It demonstrates that when it comes to addressing the issue of rural isolation, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is reluctant to spend what is needed. However, when it comes to paying fees, private consultancy costs and expenses, money will always be found. It is available for tickets for the World Cup and everything else. I knew that he had played hockey, but I did not realise he was so into some other sports. We saw the unfavourable way he treated rural communities when he got his own through the sports capital grants scheme, with which he said he had nothing to do. He said he would not be involved and was above all of that stuff. I do not know what he is at, but I hope he will go back to engaging in meaningful consultation.

Consultation on the ground on the basis of the terms of reference the Minister has brought up should not be accepted. It will result in a desired answer, while the consultants will get more money. It will be a matter of "Let them eat cake." The people are sick and tired of this and, as a public representative, I am tired of dealing with it. The system does not care about the people. Members are public servants; representatives who have been elected to look after the people and not waste money. It would be a lot easier to meet the Pope than to arrange a meeting with TII representatives. They will not meet anyone and someone cannot discuss a speed limit of which they have made a hames, for example. They are untouchable. We got rid of the NRA. As I have said several times, we had the IRA and decommissioned it only to be left with the NRA. We now have the TII, but it is only a different name. The way it treats people and the House is an insult to our intelligence. It is a merry-go-round of money, spin and consultants. It is a waste of money. I am not anti-American, but I wonder why we could not get consultants from Ireland. If we were to get an ordinary group together from a secondary school, it could come up with a concept to improve transport services in Dublin, rather than firing out millions to a US company to give us a diatribe at the end of it.

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