Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would tell the Deputy to travel around the country and look at the new schools that have been opened and built and which he has visited. They were not a waste of money. I do not think we can extrapolate from the bike shed outside that every other piece of infrastructure represents no value for money or represents excessive expenditure. We need balance and perspective in debate all the time. Some very fine projects have been completed under the capital infrastructure programme, including schools, hospitals and roads. That is the overall picture. I do not think we can look at everything through the lens of what was in my view excessive spending in terms of the bike shed. I am not fully au fait with the security pavilion at the Department of Finance. It is my understanding that the OPW deals with all of that. It is stretching it to suggest that Ministers are going to get involved in the nitty-gritty of every security contract. That is not the way it works. There have to be proper checks and balances. The Comptroller and Auditor General is there-----

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