Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I also would like to acknowledge the office of the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, which made contact with my own office this morning about this Commencement matter. I tabled this Commencement matter to ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to make a statement on how the public spending code ensures that taxpayers get greater value for money from publicly funded projects. It is a real issue to make sure that we get bang for our buck when it comes to publicly-funded projects. These are very significant funds that the State is pumping into Government agencies. We need to make sure that Government agencies deliver on the ability to have these major projects delivered. We have huge sums of money given, in particular, to local authorities. How the public spending code deals with local authorities is a real issue of concern for many people.

I raise this issue on the back of a huge issue we have in my own part of the world where our only public pool, which is in Dunmanway, received €5.5 million four years ago. It has been running at half capacity ever since. To give an example, other public pools in the county will be open up to 60 or 70 hours every week. We have 25 hours every week in Dunmanway. This is a state-of-the-art complex that has a 25 m pool, a jacuzzi and a gym, all funded by the State coffers, and yet it is still running at half capacity. It runs five days a week, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., and not on Sundays. This is our money being spent on a public project and the public is not getting value for money.

We have swimming clubs that have not had lessons in two years. We have a huge issue in my part of the world. The Minister of State has visited west Cork and knows it is an area where we have access to water all the way along. For parents to not have access to swimming lessons for over two years is an absolute disgrace.

I am trying to work out where national government fits in. Where does the public spending code fit in to make sure that we get value for money when we give money to local authorities? The local authorities seem to be running around on this issue and have not done anything in the past four years regarding making sure the services that are required in the community are delivered.

We have often seen the call that we need more money for infrastructure and we need to have these projects delivered on. We have the money, we have had the infrastructure built and now we do not have access to it. That is a significant bugbear for so many people. Unless we have due accountability for the moneys that we give to local authorities, we will continue to have this mess. It is a significant issue.

Can the Minister of State elaborate on where the buck stops? Who controls it? Where is the auditor regarding making sure that the investment the State makes on behalf of the Irish people into these publicly-funded projects means they are actually open to the public? That is the crux of the matter. Many Deputies and Senators in west Cork have been going around in circles, trying to get this pool opened. We now need to make sure there is accountability regarding the money spent. Where is the line of command and who can give us that accountability?