Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I need to second the amendment to the Order of Business by Senator Keogan.

The Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, DPER, was set up to keep an eye on how we spend money in this country. If you want to hire a secretary now in the public service, its approval is required. Then we see RTÉ over the past couple of weeks being dragged in here and the millions of euro that have been sloshing around the place like it was going out of fashion and hundreds of thousands paid to the talent. This morning in the newspaper I read that a consultant in the HSE has been paid almost €1 million. A second consultant has been paid between €750,000 and €800,000. I read 352 people in the HSE are earning between €250,000 and €500,000 per annum. I see from a report by the Committee of Public Accounts that we paid almost €1 billion for the search and rescue service, and we have nothing to show for it. Yes, lives were saved, but we have nothing to show for it. Why did we not buy the helicopters and get 30 years out of them? Use contractors, by all means, but as we all know, the search and rescue thing has become a disaster.

Where was DPER when looking at that process? What role did it have in the procurement process that took place for search and rescue in this country? Why was the Air Corps dumped out of the search and rescue role? It offered the Agusta Westing 189 helicopter and the contractor who got the job delivers AW189 helicopters. I do not understand. Has the Department outlived its usefulness? I personally believe it has. I ask that when we return here in the fall, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform comes in here and outlines to this House exactly what is the role of the Department. How have these State agencies got away with spending billions, millions and tens of thousands on individuals? Please tell me. Is a nurse not worth €500,000 a year? Having lain on my back in a coronary care unit, I know the nurse looked after me 24 hours a day while the consultant worked 11 hours a week. That is the contract; just 11 hours. By the way, they do not have to see a patient. They only have to take responsibility for a patient. It is a great little number if you can get it. Who is actually watching the house now? Who is minding the shop? I cannot see any sign of it. The people are absolutely outraged by the way in which money is being sloshed around. I agree with Senator Murphy. Pay the licence fee, keep the little fellow in his job, but let us start looking at the big fish that are taking millions of euro out of this country. It is time it stopped.