Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Independent Ireland for bringing forward this motion, which speaks to the real and justified anger that is out there. It is anger at the blatant waste of people's money by this Government and the previous one. In the dying days of the latter, we had a constant drip feed of shocking levels of wasted money, such as €336,000 on a bike shed, €1.4 million on a security hut, €9 million on phone pouches and the biggest one of all, €1.5 billion on a children's hospital. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have become synonymous with the waste of public money. When we talk about €1.4 million on a security hut or more than €300,000 for a bike shed at the back of this building, we are talking about people's money, which they have paid in through taxes and which they entrust to the Government to spend in their best interest and that of this State.

At the same time, while people see this blatant waste of money, they are looking at their children waiting for an assessment of need, at their older parents waiting on hospital trolleys or at carers in their community struggling just to get by. It is clear from people that enough is enough when it comes to this kind of wastage of public money. The public deserve to know the extent to which Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are burning through their money and what it is being spent on.

The waste of money, however, is not just about the money itself that has been wasted. It is also about the opportunity cost. When we look at the bike shed we have to pass at the back of this building, which cost well over €300,000, I think about the fact it would cost €300,000 to deliver an ambulance on Inis Oírr. Is rud fíorbhunúsach é go mbeadh otharcharr ag ceantar, ach níl otharcharr ar Inis Oírr. Chosnódh sé sin €300,000. Bhí costas €336,000 ar an bike shed. Tá sé scannalach an bealach a bhfuil Fianna Fáil is Fine Gael ag caitheamh le hairgead na ndaoine. Caithfear athrú a dhéanamh ar an gceist sin láithreach. Teastaíonn otharcharr ó Inis Oírr láithreach.

For most people, the real worry is that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that we do not really know what is going on. Is it just because an investigative journalist puts in a freedom of information, FOI, request and tells us what is happening that we discover it? What we need to hear from the Opposition, as we have done today, but also from the Government, is what exactly we can do to stop this waste of money. First, we in Sinn Féin have said there needs to be a full audit, completely and utterly transparent across Departments and State agencies, in order that we can get under the bonnet of the scandalous waste of money under the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Second, we need to look at how public money is spent in the procurement process. It is absolutely obvious that we should have data on how our money is being spent. I brought forward a Bill in the previous Dáil, which I will reintroduce in this Dáil, called the Transparency and Social Value in Public Procurement Bill. It will create greater transparency, oversight and accountability in procurement spending in order that the Minister will know exactly what is happening to the public money that is being spent but also that the public will know how it is spent. The data will be used to look at the type of procurement procedures used and the performance of the contractor, as we heard in the context of contractors, including details on cost overruns, information on non-compliant expenditure, the use and type of social clauses in contracts, which are so important, and details on contracts awarded to small and medium sized enterprises. This will allow contracting authorities to see what has worked well, because obviously plenty of spending works well and we need to see that, but we also need to see what does not work well. The Bill makes sense and I hope the Minister will be able to support it when I bring it forward.

The third thing we need to do is reform the freedom of information process. There has been some reform but we need far more such that it will not be the case that an investigative journalist puts in an FOI request, is refused and submits an appeal that is then granted. If that happens, what we should do is reimburse the sum that was spent on the appeal. Again, I will bring forward legislation on freedom of information, but this motion is about the scandalous waste of money and we need to do something about that.

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