Tom Shehan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues who have called for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to attend the House. One issue I would raise in a debate with him is the waste of public moneys. Recently, the Dublin Airport Authority, for example, painted a fire tender and then after six months repainted it to its original colour. This cost ¤7,000. The Department of Social Protection made welfare benefit overpayments of approximately ¤100 million to more than 63,000 claimants. The Department of Education and Skills overpaid teachers for nine months at a cost of ¤1.2 million. Up to ¤4,200 was paid by Waterford Institute of Technology to charter a plane to take a Department of Education and Skills consultant from Waterford to Dublin. By the time they had got through airport security, they would have been half way up the Waterford-Dublin road by car.

This is an example of wasteful spending. We should get the Minister in and allow Members from all sides point out constructively and positively what they see as wasteful spending. If he can tackle that, perhaps the forthcoming budget will not be as severe as expected.