Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

Yes. It is like an open sore for the public. We will all get it in the neck, even though many of us have legitimate expenses. The body politic is being destroyed because people are sticking their heads in the sand and not prepared to face up to how the public is thinking. Through the commission or a separate and new Oireachtas committee along the lines of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, we must examine the expenses incurred in all Departments. We must deal with those Ministers who have been spending in recent years as if they own the country or show the public that, while some of the spending may have been excessive, the expenses were genuinely incurred while looking after the affairs of State. Our discussions will not matter unless we do something quickly, as we will lose all public respect when debating the economy, the budget and politics.