Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

On his Twitter account this morning, the Deputy Leader referred to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, having to clean up the mess in the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. Has the Deputy Leader seen the report? If so, what did he mean by having to clean up the mess? I agree with Senator Coffey and Senator Donohoe, and formally second the amendment to the Order of Business if this has not already been done, that the authority is the epitome of Fianna Fáil cronyism. It was set up by Government, it has rewarded political patronage and Senator Donohoe is correct in pointing out the involvement in accessing money to buy land. The taxpayer must now pay off this sum. When can we expect the report to be published and why has there been a delay? Will the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, come to the Chamber to explain the whole report and indicate what he intends to do?

I agree with the comments made by Senator Donohoe about the staff in the social welfare offices. As a proud advocate of public sector workers, I appeal to the workers in the social worker offices not to hit the most marginalised and vulnerable people. They should think before engaging in further industrial action. The unions should hit the Government and the representatives of the Government, not the people.