Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Independent Ireland for bringing forward this motion. While there are elements of it that I also do not agree with, it is an important topic to discuss. I will call out those components of it that I have an issue with, particularly the idea of an Irish version of the DOGE. I do not think that is an appropriate way to go forward. Nor do I appreciate the condemnation of NGOs when NGOs in this country provide a crucial service in areas where I believe the State should be stepping in to provide those services.

Before I go into detail on some examples of Government waste and solutions we put forward as Social Democrats, I want to talk about social democracy. In a modern social democratic country with a modern governance system, what we have is a system where we pay our taxes and, in return, receive quality public services such as housing, healthcare, education, childcare and disability services, all of which create a floor in society below which we cannot fall. It provides confidence in the public that their taxes are being spent in ways that benefit them. In this country, unfortunately, we have a disconnect because people are paying their taxes and are not getting in return the public services they expect. Instead, we hear report after report of Government spending that is resulting in waste, and people are frustrated at this stage that their tax money is not going in the right direction.

I have a theory about this. As proponents of social democracy and as people who believe in a progressive left governance model for this country, we are concerned about that issue of public spending. Perhaps it is the Government's own ideological underpinning, however, which defaults to the private sector and relies heavily on the market, that means it is not as concerned about public spending. It has been pushed into a system of increasing public spending over the past decade because of the windfalls we have seen, the public pressure it is under, and the shortfall in those public services. Unfortunately, without that belief in State reach into public spending, we are seeing waste manifest again and again.

I will get into some examples, and of course there is a litany of them. Gach cúpla mí bíonn scéal eile sna nuachtáin faoi na milliúin curtha amú. I will touch on some of them, starting with the Arts Council most recently. I feel this is a particular example where, for reasons of cybersecurity, cost, upskilling and that we have a talent pool in this country when it comes to IT and cyber skills, we actually should be insourcing rather than outsourcing our IT procurement across the public sector. I will also touch on RTÉ. When we saw the issues there, one of the things most affected has been workers' rights within RTÉ. That is something we are really concerned about as a party. Then there is the national children's hospital, which has been raised many times already this morning.

One thing I will call out within that is that, even when we know there is overspend, there does not seem to be any ability to pull back on that. Even when it is being identified, we are not seeing the steps required to address it. Let us run through a short timeline, a whistle-stop tour of what happened. In 2016, BAM was initially awarded the contract. In 2017, a year later, the first concerns were raised about cost overruns, but nothing essentially changed. In 2019, two separate Oireachtas committees investigated the overspend and, yet again, nothing changed. In 2022, our current Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, declared that the hospital was 80% complete, and yet it is still not open. That is at the cost of €2.2 billion. There does not seem to be any ability in real time to learn or to rectify the systems allowing this to happen.

Another component I point out is that with many of these overspends we are seeing we are again outsourcing all of this expertise. We are outsourcing governance and accountability. That is when we see we have nothing to show for it. Even at the end of all of this overspend, we have so little to show for it as a State. MetroLink is an example of that, with €300 million spent before we have even broken ground. On this project, when it comes to outsourcing, of course private contractors are going to take our money, but the State has to step up and deliver that infrastructure. We get massive public spending going to private contractors on projects that are not fit for purpose while people in the public sector are under immense pressure, having funding released to them and being told to use it or lose it within unreasonable timeframes.

One of the most concerning aspects of this is the impact it has on public confidence. As I say, people pay their taxes and expect public services in return. What they do not expect and do not want is public waste instead. We are starting to see people resenting paying those taxes. My constituents have told me on the doors that they do not mind taxation when and if they see value for it. What we are seeing is a lack of action on waste, transparency and accountability, and it is resulting in a distrust of the State and its ability to spend public money. It undermines faith in democracy and allows this false narrative that it is impossible for the State to practise value for money, whereas that is actually a political choice. Ba chóir go mbeadh muid ag cruthú sochaí ina mbeadh dlúthpháirtíocht fite fuaite inár bpobal agus áit a bhfaighimis luach ár gcuid airgid dár gcáin.

I will mention some of the solutions we put forward in our election manifesto last year and on which we will be working over this term of Government. First is a real-time mechanism to monitor spending in order that we can understand those issues in real time and do not get the information six months after the fact when it is too late to do anything.

The Government needs to actively engage with civil servants and Accounting Officers to ensure compliance with the public spending code, procurement guidelines and so on is actually happening. Again, this must happen in real time. We do not need to create a new body to do this, particularly one run by private sector experts. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General is a reputable organisation with the facilities and competence to deal with this. It needs to be effectively resourced to do so and it needs to be given that real-time mechanism to allow it to do it properly. I heard the Minister list some of the practices that are in place to ensure accountability and oversight but they need adjustment because, as we have heard all morning, they are obviously not working. We need to adjust those codes and that procurement framework as required and bring about greater transparency and conflict of interest prevention across the system. Modern well-resourced governments can deliver projects on time and on budget. Broken systems cannot.

I recognise there are many people within the public service working to deliver value for money for the taxpayer. I have been an Accounting Officer myself and I know how dearly public servants hold the idea of value for public money. They appreciate their responsibility to the public purse. I recognise that and once again say that, if they are given the framework to operate within, they will be able to do this. Ní fadhb é a bheith flaithiúil má tá tú ag fáil luach as ach tá an Rialtas flaithiúil le rudaí fánacha. Ciallaíonn sé sin nach bhfuil muid ag fáil na seirbhísí agus an infreastruchtúir chuí. This is an issue it is important to raise and to address. It is truly disappointing the Government amendment fails to do so.

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