Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Big agencies like this are milking the taxpayer and they are doing an untold harm to families. I want that on the record because I maintain that.

The OPW seems to be licensed to do what it likes. I had great respect for the OPW over the years. They have many good projects and many good staff, but there are the cases I cited there - the bike shed and the hut, and God knows how many more that we do not know about. I remember one time the former Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, being in my company and that of Dr. Martin Mansergh, then Minister of State, having a bowl of soup and a sandwich in Clonmel when the Minister of State told both of us that they were going to put an apiary in the chimney of Government Buildings - onto the helipad. The poor former Taoiseach, Mr. Cowen, nearly choked on his soup and sandwich. It did not happen, thank God, because we found out about it before it happened. God knows what it would have cost. It would be a fairly stinging price, I would say, pardon the pun

The OPW is tasked now with a massive contract. I sat down with them about Clonmel, that is, about the 82 modular cabins going in there for Ukrainians, we are told, even though the Taoiseach was telling me the Ukrainians are returning more now than what is here. I was told at that meeting they would cost €200,000 to €220,000. Now I find it is a staggering €420,000, for God's sake, for cabins that could be made, I would say, for €80,000. They are not houses. One would buy a house anyway for that kind of money. The waste goes on and the OPW is in charge here. Of course, one of the biggest construction companies in the world, certainly, in Ireland, got the contract for all these ten sites all over the country. I do not know whether it was even put out to tender. I will not name the company but everyone knows who they are. It starts with an S and finishes with a K. It has done some good work in the past, to be fair to it, in the motorways, with Roadbridge, a Limerick company.

I am out of time. I did not realise that and my colleagues are coming in.

See this speech in context