Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Language takes on a new meaning in the Minister's and the Minister of State's speeches on the Further Revised Estimates. It may be more accurate to say their language takes on no meaning. That is the worst message being sent to the people. They can put up with mistakes as long we learn from them. They can put up with waiting if things are done in a just and fair way. The Minister for Finance has said there are no cuts. He used words such as "rescheduling", "revising" and "re-profiling" and told us that they did not mean cuts. If they do not, it begs the question why he did not come in before now, not with reference to the national children's hospital but to address the issue of there being so much scope for re-profiling, rescheduling and revising. Why did he not come here to use that money? My colleague Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned money. A lot less money, €70,000, is needed for the Galway Autism Partnership which will go under if it does not receive it. I do not have time to go into the details, but it begs that question. The Minister talked about putting procedures in place. We were told at the Committee of Public Accounts that all procedures were in place. We were told that as we could not rely on the public service, something with which I do not agree, private people were brought in because of their expertise. It beggars belief the Minister is coming forward and telling us that this will not happen again.

In 2015, before my time, the board appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts and stated there had been "learnings", the lovely word we keep using here. Nobody knows what it means. I never liked the word and it never meant anything to me. In 2015 the board stated there had been learnings from the previous debacle. What really hit me at the Committee of Public Accounts was what had been paid on spin. If the Minister answers nothing else tonight, how can he stand over the payment of €800,000 to a spin company, a public relations company, over three years? Not only that, he decided to renew the contract for a further two years. That brings the figure to approximately €1.4 million. The Minister has come into the House tonight with this disgraceful speech and Further Revised Estimates that do not deserve the name because that is not what is happening. The Minister is continuing to fool and mislead the people, but they will not be misled. The strongest message at doors during the last election was that Members should speak honestly to people, say it as it is, provide services in return for tax payments and stop the ridiculous games with spin companies to mislead people.

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