Alan Kelly (Labour)

I agree wholeheartedly with people across the House who have raised the issue of the Morris tribunal. It is a very good report but unfortunately overshadowed by something which in my view is fundamentally wrong. The way in which these two former Members of this House were treated in the report is quite worrying. All Members receive information from time to time. If such information is of such a magnitude, how do we deal with it? Whom do we go to and how do we act responsibly? We need to discuss these questions.

I have asked the Leader this question before and he might indulge me and get some answers. There is a major debate, especially for the Government, regarding the public finances. Sometimes there is a fixation on the public finances as opposed to the real economy. Instead of discussing numbers in many areas, especially those at the lower scales in the civil and public service, the Leader might ask the Department of Finance, through his Government, to conduct an audit of the number of buildings throughout the country proposed for State bodies and the Civil Service so as to highlight the waste.

A performance management process was introduced under the last pay deal and it has been conducted across the public service. The Leader might ask the Department of Finance to conduct an audit of how performance management is being applied to senior managers and chief executives through the chairpersons of boards, etc. Is it being conducted? My information is that, in many cases, it is not. At a time when taxpayers expect value for money and good service delivery and those on the lower levels within the civil and public service must work under this system, senior managers should do so as well.