Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)

I have employees. If I was in any other county, including Donegal, I would get paid an awful lot more for doing what I was doing than I am paid for doing what I do here. The reason I am here is to protect people. It is not about money. It is about protection and putting in place procedures using the experience I have as a taxpayer and an employer who has had employees all his life. We are here to protect people and to give the Government our experience and the tools to stop Departments wasting money. It helps Government to deliver. I do not care if the Government gets all the praise. I will praise it myself if it takes up a business model. That is what I am here to do. I do not need to score points with anyone. The day I cannot make a contribution to this Dáil is the day I do not want to be here. To be quite honest, I do not want to be here if I cannot make a contribution. I want the Government to listen to people who are in business, who pay taxes and who make a profit. If I do not make a profit, the employees and subcontractors who work with me have no other work to go to. I am providing a service but they are also providing a most vital service, building for the future. I ask both Minister of States and all other Deputies and Ministers in this House to listen to people who have track record of being in business and who can deliver projects. Let me give the Government a simplified model. Let me cut the waste of money involved in going out to different Departments with different funding schemes. Let me give the Government that brochure to help it. It is about a standard procedure. It is called common sense. If I could bucket it and give it to the Government, I would. I need it to listen to common sense. What I want here is accountability. I want to give the Government value for its money.

I want to ensure we can provide a service like that the private hospitals in his country are providing. I was in a private hospital recently myself because I needed to be dealt with. I had to go to a private hospital. I have a machine on me at the moment to measure my heart rate. Do the Ministers of State think that, if I had to go through the emergency department and all of the rest of it, I would be here today? I presume my heart rate is reading fairly high at the moment.

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