Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ar an gcéad dul síos, déanaim comhghairdeas leis an iarAire, an Teachta McGrath agus leis an Aire nua, an Teachta Chambers. I congratulate and compliment the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, on his appointment to the European Commission. It is a wonderful day and time for him. I wish him well. I also wish well his wife, Sarah, Tom, Jack, and the lads, and his mother and brother, Seamus, and the entire McGrath family.

I came into the Dáil on the same day as the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, soon to be Commissioner McGrath. We shared a lot of different endeavours in our early years in this House. I remember one case especially, but not with any sense of pride to be honest. It was a sad occasion when the late Brian Lenihan introduced a bailout for the banks. The Minister was looking for me around Cahir and he picked me up and carried me to Dublin. I am sorry I did not go missing and stay at home, which is what I wanted to do. I did vote for that, but that bank clean-out was the biggest political mistake I ever made in my life. It was not a bailout. It was unfortunate, but such is life. We learn from our experiences. Our friendship remains and I wish the Minister well in his new position.

I also wish the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, well in the Minister for Finance position. He did visit Ard Fhíonáin a year and a half ago. He was on a kind of roadshow, looking at the bridge and leaving it so, and promising us money. He will have to fix this bridge which has been closed for ten or 11 years. Now he will have the purse strings so I hope he will be able to deliver on his promise. He can give €350,000 to consultants on top of what they already got. Consultants are gobbling up money in this country at an enormous rate. That is an issue I have with the Minister, Deputy McGrath, as well in terms of his stewardship of public expenditure. The Cabinet signed off yesterday on a project that was meant to cost €700 million about ten years ago to bring a pipeline from Shannon to Dublin to give us all uisce here in Baile Átha Cliath. I get a good sup of it here from the ushers. They do not charge me for it. The project is now estimated to cost €6 billion. What has gone wrong in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform? I know the Minister is not there now, as it is Deputy Donohoe. They swapped chairs. The national children's hospital has already been mentioned. It is a runaway train with no accountability. How could a project that was estimated by Uisce Éireann, Irish Water, and others to cost €700 million now be put through the Cabinet yesterday for in the region of €6 billion? That is outrageous. Schoolchildren in second class would not do maths like that. We cannot have such costs. It is a mad project in the first place. We should fix the leaks here in Dublin and get water from nearer to Dublin, not pump it up through the entire midlands.

I am surprised at the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. He was going to give us tales from the Cabinet room some time ago, or at least he started but he then declined to do it. There is no doubt we will look forward to his book when he retires. He will give us some of the claims. The reason there is such friendship and cordiality in the Cabinet room is because he has got his own way. He literally wrote the book – the green book - for his colleague sitting beside him.

The Tánaiste wanted to be in power so he wrote a blank cheque. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, took the cheque and he has destroyed so many issues. I have great time for him personally but we have had carbon tax and all those other issues and scaring people about the country going on fire and the world going on fire. The only thing on fire is the Department of Finance, public expenditure and the runaway costs of so many projects. A contract from the Government now is like gold dust because people can change it or rewrite it or do anything they like and there is no cap on it or no penalty clauses. There is no accountability for any senior official. An official was mentioned a few moments ago by Deputy Tóibín. Where is the accountability? He got promoted to a different Department and sought €60,000 extra to go there after leaving a mess in the other Department. It is time that public officials were reined in and the elected Government did the business for the people to have proper management of our finances and proper services that deliver for our people, including daoine óga, daoine aosta and gach duine, and not to have the rip-off Ireland that is going on throughout the country. It is very sad to have to say these things but it is the fact of the matter as to what is happening as a result of the continuous Government of which Deputies McGrath and Chambers have been members.

On a personal note I wish the Minister, Deputy McGrath, well. I hope the cordiality will continue and that the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and many others who have contacts with various groupings ensure he gets a portfolio fitting to the needs of the country and that it suits him. I hope it will be an economic brief. I dearly hope we will get something better from Europe. On behalf of the Rural Independent Group I oppose the reappointment of Ursula von der Leyen. Tosach maith leath na hoibre but that would be a bad start for the Commission. The people of Ireland do not want it. We can see this and it is quite evident with her meddling and her statements at the start of the war in Israel. Go n-éirí go geal libh.

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