Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

In 2005, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, purchased a site for a proposed new prison intended to replace Mountjoy Prison and the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. The Minister spent €30 million for a 150 acre site at Thornton Hall in Swords. This price was estimated by valuers to be more than eight times the going rate for land in the area. Is this value for money?

I remind the House about PPARS which was a health payroll and personnel system under development by the Department of Health and Children. It was costed at €8.8 million in 1998 but the cost of the project had reached €150 million in 2005 when the project was finally suspended.

The record of the Government is simple. It inherited the strongest set of economic statistics of any incoming Government in the history of the State. It presided over a period of immense private success and huge public failure. Thankfully, the people will be able to decide for themselves very soon and give their verdict on how they think the Government dealt with the economy.