Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach has resumed the policy, last seen in the run-up to the 2016 general election, of commenting regularly on how everything is brilliant in society and how the Government is responsible for everything positive. Whenever anyone raises any concerns, he goes straight into his hyper-partisan model of behaviour, the type of model that has reduced Westminster politics to its current sorry state. In a difficult situation, the Taoiseach only ever played the man and never the ball. We saw this again yesterday with what I would term his frankly pathetic refusal to address Deputy Michael McGrath's point about the implications of dramatic over-expenditure on a range of projects.

It is only a couple of months since Fine Gael's messaging priority was to announce in the Dáil that it would expose every promise by the Opposition and demand full fiscal information. Now, we are in the position in which the Government has adopted a kitchen-sink strategy to campaigning, whereby allocations of billions of euros are being announced and Ministers are refusing at point blank to explain where the money is coming from. The Taoiseach has even gone so far as to involve our European Commissioner in the unprecedented breaking of the tradition of the Commission refusing to make funding announcements during campaigns. There was plenty of time before the campaigns. We have been lobbying hard on behalf of the suckler cow herd and beef farmers.

When will we see the exact list of projects re-profiled due to the major over-expenditure on the children's hospital and the broad fiscal impact of the broadband decision? As the Taoiseach will be aware, the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform listed a range of projects, including schools and primary care units, that would have to be delayed or cancelled if the full cost of broadband had to be paid and if the €345 million for the children's hospital was to be found. Is it still the Taoiseach's position that the Brexit-related hit on the public finances, the additional funding for the hospital and the broadband plan, and the overruns in the health service will all be managed without anybody noticing?

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