Tom Shehan (Fine Gael)

I wish all our US colleagues and cousins a happy 4 July. I also wish to raise an issue mentioned by others with regard to sick leave in Departments. Last year, 185,000 sick days were taken at a cost of €27 million. The biggest culprit was the Department of Social Protection with 71,000 days. If we are to get the country back on track we must consider the excess in certain areas, such as, with regard to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the €1 million spent annually on school allowances for staff posted overseas, the €800,000 spent on top-up health insurance for overseas staff and the €280,000 spent on disturbance allowances to allow diplomats to return from postings. Yesterday, I begged the Minister for Education and Skills to cover the €350 required for school transport in an extreme case. Last week, I begged the Minister for Health to intervene in the case of a 14-year-old girl with autism who has fallen through the cracks and has been on waiting lists for years, yet we have excess and waste in the public sector. A small number of staff in the protocol section and press office of the Department of the Taoiseach have a clothing allowance of €444 per year. If we are serious about getting this country back on its feet and out of the quagmire it is in and about change, we must get tough on allowances. We must get tough on the waste in public spending and we must do it now - not next month or the following month but now. I call on the Leader to bring the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform before the House to discuss these matters.