Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The question asks for details of excessive spend on current infrastructure projects or those to be completed in 2019. There is an opportunity cost. If the Government takes money and puts it into one project, it has to come out of another project - it cannot just be developed out of thin air. There is an opportunity cost to the disasters that have happened under the Minister's watch. The Minister says something has gone wrong. If something has gone wrong, somebody needs to be made accountable for it. This is another issue people cannot get their heads around in this country. They cannot understand how a Minister can squander billions of euro of taxpayers' money and get off scot-free. People see in their own lives, in their work and in their clubs and community organisations that they themselves are held responsible on a daily basis yet, at the top of the decision tree in this State, it is an accountability-free zone. The Minister mentioned the public spending code that he has designed for the future. Is there any accountable in that code? If, for example, the disaster happened with the national children's hospital under the Minister's public spending code in the future, would it be the case that the Ministers who are responsible for the disaster are held to account?

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