Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. Ar dtús, guím gach rath ar an Aire Stáit mar gheall ar an bpost nua atá aige. Is post an-deacair agus an-tábhachtach é freisin. I wish the Minister the best of luck with the job he has before him. It is a very difficult job and a very important one as well. It gives an opportunity to develop a society which is prudent and that focuses on making sure that the State is sustainable in the long term, but also that money is focused on infrastructure and public services that are needed in this country. If done wrong, what can happen is a country can have its economy driven off a cliff, which happened to the Fianna Fáil Government in 2007. Likewise, if it is done wrong, public services can be atomised by a lack of investment, which happened under Michael Noonan when he was Minister for Finance.

One of the big issues at the start of anyone taking up a position is, first, that the person has the technical competency to be able to do the job. People are cautious. The Minister of State does not have experience in a senior ministerial role such as this, as of yet. The second issue is the fact that it often takes a year for a senior Minister to bed in to a Department. We know that he does not have a year to do that. One of the important elements in that regard is the ability of a Minister to drive the bus rather than be a passenger on it.

One of the big curses of the political system in this country is that we have a permanent government that often sets the direction of the Department and we do not have Ministers who are strong enough to push back against that. I will give an example. Prudence is important. This Government is one of the most wasteful governments that has existed in the history of the State. The example I wish to give is that of the national children's hospital, which is a monument to wastefulness in public administration. A number of elements of the building of the hospital need to be highlighted. The then Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, promised that it would be built by 2020 for the price of €700 million, save an asteroid hitting the planet, yet we still do not have an opening date for the hospital and we have a bill of €2.25 billion. For there to be financial and fiscal prudence, there must be accountability. However, we have an accountability-free zone in this State on those issues. Nobody has lost their job as a result of what has happened with the national children's hospital. Nobody has been moved sideways. Nobody has had a pay cut in any way in terms of delivering for the State in that regard. There has been no accountability. Accountability is a catalyst of change. If we do not have accountability, there will be no change and we will be cursed over and over again to wake up to these types of stories happening in the future.

I have done a little research on that project and my understanding is that Robert Watt signed off on the tender document that was initially issued by the Government for that project. I might be wrong. I have asked the Minister for Health that question but he has not given me the information. If the Minister of State wants to set a standard for accountability and financial prudence in his role, he would be able to openly answer that question for us. Who was the Secretary General who signed off on the tender document that allowed the project to balloon in the manner that it did? Are we going to see a Minister who will take responsibility for that and make sure it does not happen again, or are we going to have business as usual where nobody takes responsibility?

The other difficulty the Government has had is the inability to get funding to the front line of public services. We know for sure that the HSE and other Departments have had massive increases in investment recently, but we also know that there are serious crises in terms of front-line delivery right across the public sector. I just met with people involved in the childcare sector who tell me that childcare services are still closing on a weekly basis. The Government has reduced the cost of childcare but it is currently harder to access. Individuals have gone to hospital, for example, Aoife Johnston, in University Hospital Limerick. All she needed was antibiotic treatment for sepsis. She waited 15 hours to get properly triaged in order to be able to get it, but because of the warzone-like situation that exists in the hospital she was not given the drugs she needed to help her and, as a result, she lost her life.

There was a patient there just before her who was found dead on the floor of University Hospital Limerick. Because rigor mortis had set in, the patient could not be ventilated. Whether one likes it or not, that situation is replicated right across the service delivery in hospitals around the country due to the lack of hospital staff. One of the objectives that Deputy Chambers must have as Minister for Finance is to make sure that the funding gets to the front line in the delivery of public services.

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