Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Deputy Calleary's Bill and I support it. I agree with giving more powers. The only thing I worry about is that we are mighty at looking back at the mistakes that have been made in this country but we do not know how to do a contract and stay in budget. That is a major problem. Every excuse has been given for that by Governments over the years. Be it renovating this building or whatever the project, there is always an excuse; it is the cost of labour. The cost of labour has not gone up that much because if we talk to workers in Ireland, they will say their pockets are not any fuller than they were three or four years ago.

The biggest problem is that there are people handling contracts who do not have a bull's iota about them. There is only one way. If they do not know how to do it, the best way they can go forward is to design and build it and put it out for a fixed price contract. That is the only way they will know they will not spend any more money. It is a pretty simple methodology providing they make sure they put every item they want into the room and multiply that by 650 rooms. It is a very simple system. We decided that we would look at this when we proposed the primary care centres. We decided we would give the builder a 25-year contract, which would then be renegotiated, instead of telling them that after 25 years, we would own the building for €100, €1,000 or whatever. However, we do not seem to know how to do that.

We need to put in place a system to make sure that when we are designing a project, we know what we are designing and that we get the right people to do it. There are many people scratching their heads after a while and costing the State money. Also, indemnity insurance needs to be called in. We should not let people off the hook.

I refer to those people along the chain who allowed this to happen. I believe that if someone delivers something on time, the people involved, be it the civil servants or the private sector, should be given a bonus. If they do not deliver it on time and if the project is over budget, there should be consequences for situations like that.

We are now facing a scenario where we do not know the position regarding contracts across this country, especially in rural areas, over the next year or two years. Sadly, that will affect the taxpayer of this country. Everyone is looking around them and saying, "This has to go on". Nothing has to go on. We can put the breaks on something for a few months, do a detailed analysis of it and see where we are going.

With everything that is going on at the moment, I have not heard one word from Ministers or the Taoiseach about broadband, which is another project that is to come. I wonder if there are budgets cut to that project. All we hear is that it is coming shortly. I might not have gone to school for that long but I never knew what date "shortly" meant. I would like to know when it is coming and when it will be delivered because "shortly" has gone on since August and I am getting sick of it.

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