Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have covered a lot of ground on this amendment, but I want to add a brief comment. I do not think the Government has actually got it yet. It really has missed the plot. The people think this company is probably the most disgraced and discredited that has ever been created. They also think the Government is responsible for it and that it is protecting it and they have smelled a rat. There is something going on about which they are not being told and the cat jumped out of the bag earlier this year when Mr. John Tierney went on the "Today with Sean O'Rourke" radio programme and revealed that €50 million of taxpayers' money had been spent on consultants. If ever there was something to raise the hackles of Irish people, including Members of these Houses, it is the issue of consultants' fees. I am still waiting to hear how €50 million of taxpayers' money has been spent. On whom was it spent and for what? If we were to pass the amendment, at least we would have some accountability. Somebody would be asking questions which would have to be answered. That is the key point of the amendment. One does not bypass the Comptroller and Auditor General when it comes to the expenditure of taxpayers' money; one has to account for every last penny of it. One also has to explain why and where it was spent.

I will finish where I started. The Government should be getting the message that the company is weak in terms of its credibility. This will cause enormous difficulties for the Government. There is no doubt, as my colleagues said, that we will be back here in the near future talking about a brand new structure.