Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Some 26 years ago Sir Kenneth Cork, the leading expert in Britain on companies that went into receivership, wrote in an article that he discovered that companies that were going to run into difficulty often had built a new office, but the sure sign that it would go out of business was if it put a fountain in the foyer. The reason I bring it up is the Central Bank is moving from its offices in Dame Street to the former Anglo Irish Bank's headquarters on the quays. I do not know whether the Central Bank has a fountain planned for that office; I hope not. However, I was surprised at the number of staff the Central Bank employs. For Ireland alone, it employs 1,500 staff - that is why it is moving - and yet the European Central Bank based in Frankfurt employs only 1,400 for the whole of Europe. It seems there is a danger that we get into the habit of the luxury of too many staff to do a technical job and also of buildings that are far beyond our need.

I think of the unfortunate death yesterday of Mr. Hugh O'Regan, a man I did not know well. I met him approximately five years ago. It was a time where this House was going to have to vacate this premises to go somewhere else. There was talk of the Seanad moving to the National History Museum. Mr. O'Regan asked me, "Would you pass on an offer that I would like to make to you of the United Services Club?" That is the club next door to the St. Stephen's Green club that he owned at the time. He said, "I would like to offer it to the nation for a couple of years so that the Seanad could sit there." It was not needed in the end and was not used. I mention it because developers got a bad name in recent years but there were some things we should remember of those who wanted to give back to the nation a great deal of the benefits they had. I remember Mr. O'Regan whom I did not know well in that regard and my sympathy goes to the family.

My last point is one I brought up previously, namely, the frustration of getting our Order Paper every day in a sealed envelop. I do not know why we waste so much paper and funding on doing so. I suppose I am a little careful with what I spend my money on. I was going to unseal these envelopes to use them again, except I discovered they have also put my name on the outside as well and I would have to write to myself. I am sure somebody should draw attention to this and ask why there is a need to have the Order Paper sent to everyone in a sealed envelop, with all of that paper, with our name and address, which is Leinster House I assume I am not the only one getting it; everybody else is getting it. Most of us, with the exception of one Senator who corrected me, have an iPad or some means of contact by which to relay information without needing paper. Let us start an anti-paper campaign.