Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is a gap between the figures of €44,500 and €73,000. It is a lot of money to ordinary Joe Soaps, although it might not be a lot to the Minister, his plethora of advisers or his competent officials. The Department employs external agencies and officials, but the Minister has provided alarming sums. He said the Department employed PwC only once. If he had said it employed the firm twice, perhaps he would have wriggle room. He stated that it was once in that period, however, and quoted a figure of €73,000, yet I was given a figure of €44,500. That is real money to ordinary taxpayers. This is an example of the Minister's flippant answers and the activities of the spin doctors the Department employs to try to pull the wool over people's eyes. We want transparency, openness and accountability but there is not a shred of that in the Department, as has been blatantly proven over and over again, not least in the case of the children's hospital fiasco.

I am not here to lambaste people; I am here for the truth. I represent the people of County Tipperary and the ordinary people throughout the country who struggle every day to pay their taxes. Meanwhile, the Government spends money like confetti at a wedding or snuff at a wake, as though it is all right because it can be blown away. Before the debate, I attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation, which is considering scheduling time next week to debate the Revised Estimates thanks to this mess, or black hole, of a children's hospital. I am not accusing anyone of anything. Rather, I am seeking straight answers from the Minister but I am not getting them.

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