John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

Machines which will never be used are sitting in warehouses up and down the country at a cost of thousands of euro to store. Despite that, we are holding a debate on how well the Government is managing public finances.

I noted Senator Fitzgerald's comment that each Minister is being held to account for the money he or she spends. Why has no one been held to account for the money which was spent at Punchestown? The buck has been passed left, right and centre and the spending has been blamed on every civil servant in the relevant Departments. Certainly, no Minister has been held to account by the Taoiseach or anybody else on the Government benches in either House. They seem to be washing their hands of the matter completely.

The hypocrisy expressed in the contributions of Senators Mansergh and Fitzgerald was astounding. They should have thought about what they were about to say before they stood up. Clearly, they did not. I am delighted to move the Fine Gael amendment tonight. Senator Mansergh spoke about what has been written in French newspapers, but he should read more often what is written in Irish newspapers about public finances and the scandalous wasting of resources which we see regularly. The Senator spoke of the public finances being in order.