Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In the coming weeks, the budget will be formed and presented to this House. It must be said that no other democratic parliament would accept such a black box of spending. We will see the money going in. There will be more than €12 billion in capital expenditure next year, the bits and bobs that may find our ramshackle hospitals, our unreliable public transport and our patchy and dangerous roads. We see tinpot examinations of public spending but no serious energy is expended on seriously addressing the imbalance in State spending. Most of all, we will see the haves and the have-nots, the winners and the losers, of the public trough. The politics of old Ireland are alive and well in public spending disbursement but it is no longer "Ballymagash". It is now Blanchardstown and Blackrock, to be fair. In presenting the upcoming budget, will the Government allow the people to see where the money is being spent?

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