Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his response and the way he spoke regarding his work in the Department since he came in. I know the questions and issues I raised were well before the time of his role with the OPW. It was in that context I raised this. One of the key issues that Fine Gael brought forward and raised ahead of the previous election was the view that we needed to look at the OPW to ensure that expenditure was spent, to my key point, in a way that ensured there was value for money for the taxpayer. All across what we do as a State, and why we stand up here, is ensuring the public gets value for money. We know the difficulties we have. The Minister for infrastructure and public infrastructure is here. The biggest single difficulty facing this country is delivery of infrastructure, notwithstanding how we go towards building housing. We need to get value for money across all areas. I am delighted to be able to raise that today in the context of the OPW.

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