Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I want to extend a welcome to the Mayo Self Advocacy Group, which is joining us in the Public Gallery.

This time last year, it was revealed Government spent €335,000 of taxpayers' money on a bike shed here in Leinster House. There was widespread public shock and anger but, of course, Government waste did not end there. We had €1.4 million for a security hut at Government buildings; €500,000 to replace a wall at the headquarters of the WRC; nearly €300,000 paid to consultants to come up with an Irish name for GSOC; €77,000 to change the name of An Bord Pleanála to An Coimisiún Pleanála; and €70,000 for curtains at Dublin Castle. These are just some examples of the millions of euro wasted on the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Then of course, the Government's investigation into the bike shed or shelter fiasco cost the public another €25,000, yet nobody was ever held to account.

It is clear the Government learned absolutely no lessons because at the weekend, it emerged that the bike shed scandal part 2 is on the cards. Astonishingly, Government is allowing €100,000 of public money to be spent on a new bike shed at the national maternity hospital. When I first heard this, I thought somebody was having me on - I thought it was a wind-up - but no, there it is on the Government e-tenders website. Is this really the best use of taxpayers' money when there are so many demands on the health service, for example, where accident and emergency services do not have enough chairs and trolleys, not to mind beds, and where people regularly sit on the floor. Last year, the Taoiseach described paying out these outrageous sums of taxpayers' money for a bike shed as "extortionate, ridiculous and inexcusable", yet it is happening again. It is bike shed Groundhog Day.

This is a slap in the face for hardworking families hammered by a relentless cost-of-living crisis, households for whom every single euro counts, and who now hear the Taoiseach's Government continues to squander their hard-earned money. Government throws away millions of euro in public money but at the same time will remove energy credits from households in the budget.

The Government does nothing to tackle the rip-off or take on companies that are gouging customers. It gives the energy companies free rein to hike electricity prices. It lets the big supermarket chains off the hook for soaring food prices. The insurance companies know they have nothing to fear from the Taoiseach's Government as they jack up premiums. People are ripped off by private companies and ripped off by his Government.

Tá sé scannalach gur lig an Rialtas don €100,000 a bheith caite ar bhothán eile. Buille sa phus atá ann do theaghlaigh atá faoi bhrú ollmhór leis an gcostas maireachtála. One year on, a litany of waste later, and there is still no proper oversight, no improvements and no accountability in the spending of taxpayers' money. The incompetence of all this is utterly staggering - €100,000, scandalous money, on a bike shed again. This is not just unacceptable; this is an insult to the public.

My question is simple: does the Taoiseach believe that spending €100,000 on a bike shed represents value for the taxpayers' money?

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