Sean Barrett (Independent)

Today at noon, adjustments will be announced in public capital spending by the Ministers concerned. The weakness of capital project appraisal in the Irish public sector has been a problem for 60 or 70 years. It has been addressed by people as diverse as Seán MacEntee, when he was Minister for Finance, and more recently Alan Dukes. If we do not carry out proper project appraisals which are independently analysed and published in advance so they can be assessed by the citizenry, we will end up with projects being promoted by agencies that stand to benefit directly from them, and being subject to the power of lobby groups, particularly the all-powerful construction industry, which was a major contributor to the difficulties in which this State finds itself.

What I suggest to the Leader is that he invite one of the Ministers involved - the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, or the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brian Hayes - to the House to discuss arrangements to put capital investment appraisal in Ireland on a sound economic footing, perhaps with a central office of project evaluation, so we can get away from the bankrupting of the country by interest groups pursuing projects that benefit them and not the economy as a whole, and the neglect of basic techniques such as cost-benefit analysis, which are not advanced economics. In view of what is happening today at noon, we need to set up a whole new system of capital investment appraisal. I invite the Leader to ask the Ministers concerned to present such a proposal to the House, where I am sure it will be broadly welcomed.