Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sanity has prevailed and Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Independents have been stopped from giving away €14 billion of taxpayers' money. In 2016, the European Commission concluded that Ireland had granted illegal state aid to the Apple group and awarded Ireland billions of euro. That should have been that, but it was not. This was our money. I have never in my life heard of someone having been awarded money by a court and not only saying they did not want it but taking legal action to stop it being given to them. You could not make it up. The Government has failed to act in the best interests of the people. I would not trust it to spend this money.

The first thing Sinn Féin would do is invest €1 billion in working-class communities that have been left behind by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I am talking about, for example, my community, where the players of Collinstown Football Club, with hundreds of members, have to get changed on the sides of football pitches because the club has no dressing rooms. I am talking about investing in Clondalkin Equine Club in order that it can have a long-term future. I am talking even about fixing the heating and showers in Neilstown Boxing Club. There is no AstroTurf pitch in north Clondalkin or Palmerstown. I could go on.

Sinn Féin would invest this money back into our communities. I ask the Government to just get on with it and call the election now, because its members are not the right people to be spending money that is rightly owed to the people. People do not trust the Government to do the right thing and to have their best interests at heart.

Look at the fiasco of the bike shed. Spending €336,000 on a bike shed is absolutely scandalous. Ordinary workers and families who are struggling to make ends meet are pulling out their hair at the extravagance of spending €336,000 on a bike shed. You could not make it up. It is winding me up. You could build a house for less than that. It is an example of the sheer opulence of the Government and of how out of touch it really is. I would like to know who tendered for the shed, who signed off on it and where the checks and balances were. Surely someone said "stop" when they saw the price tag of €336,000 for a bike shed. What role did the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW have in this fiasco? We need to see accountability for this. The good, hard-working, taxpaying citizens of this country demand answers.

See this speech in context