Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank Deputy Shanahan and the Regional Independent Group for championing this Bill, which aims to enhance transparency in capital spending. The Bill requires all Ministers to submit detailed annual reports and capital allocations covering projects exceeding €500,000 from four years prior. This timeframe avoids interference with procurement and commercial agreements. What sets this Bill apart is its ability to shed light on where and how funds are allocated, and whether such spending addresses regional disparities and fosters balanced development. It establishes a standard reporting system for capital expenditure, promoting simplicity and consistency. The Bill addresses a crucial gap in oversight, responding to recommendations from the 2006 OECD review, which called for increased parliamentary engagement on budgets. We have to look at the ability to shed light on where and how funds are allocated. My constituency in south-west Cork is one we should be discussing here on a more detailed basis. The Arup report showed that the council was one of the lowest funded councils in the country for decades. That is an outrageous scandal and has left west Cork in a situation where four bypass projects have been lying idle for the past 20 years - two in Bandon, one in Innishannon and one in Bantry - under successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil governments. There has been absolutely no spending. Roads are in an atrocious condition. There are potholes almost everywhere you look and we have no railway. The nearest railway to me is two and a half hours away. There are other areas where we need to have a more focused look, like the rural regeneration fund. I am very angry about a fund that was meant to come to Schull a number of years ago and it failed to get there. Another senior Minister seemed to get that funding even though a junior Minister from Fine Gael had brought the committee up a number of days previously to pat them on the back and tell them they got it. All this has to be looked at and investigated properly. Fairness is what we need here in order that there is transparency in the funding that is dished out.

See this speech in context