Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

As I watched the Taoiseach speak yesterday about public sector reform, I was reminded of St. Augustine's comment, "Please God, make me good, but not just yet". It seems the Taoiseach is extending that quotation to public sector reform, "Please God, give me public sector reform, but not just yet". On hearing his comments yesterday and over the weekend on public sector reform one would have thought he was a disinterested observer in the process, not the Head of Government for nearly two years, not the Minister for Finance for a number of years, not the person in charge of the lead Department which should have been leading on the issue of public sector reform and not someone who had been in government for many years. He almost created the illusion yesterday that he had inherited a dysfunctional system when what he really did was to create and fuel that system.

There are several examples I would quote, including that of the HSE, where Cabinet clearly took a decision and has presided over a dysfunctional health system since the HSE was created. The Taoiseach was in Government when he signed off on benchmarking without linking it to productivity. Money was pumped into FÁS without anyone asking how it was being spent and without any proper monitoring or evaluation during the period. He also presided over golden handshakes. This is his record on public sector reform. We are still waiting to hear in this House about the report on public sector reform which he published just over a year ago. We have not had any reports in this House on public sector reform or on actions that have been taken during his tenure, which is a key point. The people we see marching are being asked to reform in their jobs yet we are not seeing the leadership on public sector reform which is so badly needed and which Fine Gael has been speaking out about for many years.

I welcome that the NAMA legislation will come to the House this week. However, when one considers how it has been handled in the Dáil and will be dealt with in its rushed couple of days in the Seanad, if any private business ran its affairs in that way, it would not survive. It is not a way to do business. Nevertheless, I hope we can have a positive and constructive debate on NAMA during the next few days in the House. I ask, as have quite a number of Senators across the House, that we have a debate on some of the key components which will be discussed in social partnership as well as on the Commission on Taxation, the McCarthy report and the general direction the budget needs to take.