Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. Senator Sheahan mentioned that he is standing in for Senator Michael D'Arcy. We are working on the banking inquiry report. I thank the Minister for the evidence he gave when he appeared before us.

We have robust tax receipts. It is wise that mention has been made of keeping some of these out of financing day-to-day expenditure in case they are one-offs or exceptional. I welcome the debates between the Minister and Professor John McHale and the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, because they have been useful and form part of a democracy. In other spheres of Government policy, there is a certain dislike of contrarianism but it should always be present, including in the Seanad. Let us debate the issues. Hopefully, it will lead to better policy-making.

Vigilance of public expenditure is always required. That is substantially the reason that we got into trouble. My white elephant prize for this year goes to the seven-digit, non-sequential address code, which was rightly criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General. It cost €38 million and no one uses it. From the evidence given to the committee, it was obvious to every member that there was no great appetite for the code. If 98% of post is delivered the next day, why spend €38 million-----