Pearse Doherty: €127,000 Kerry Bike Shed

Minister, another day, another bike shed scandal, and not for the first time involving your Government. We had a £336,000 Leinster House bike shed, we've had almost £100,000 spent on a bike shed at Hollis Street, and now we have another bike shed, €127,000 for a bike shed at University Hospital Kerry. Another slap in the face to the ordinary people right across this country, workers and families who are already at breaking point. And this comes at the exact time that you're imposing a recruitment embargo across parts of the health service. Healthcare workers are being told that there's no money. Vacancies are going unfilled. Staff, they're working to exhaustion. Patients, they're waiting longer and longer. Children are waiting months for assessment. But yet, on the other hand, somehow your Government, no problem, finds €127,000 for a designer bike shed that was signed off without blinking an eye. And you know what the most outrageous part of all of that is? There were vastly cheaper options available. Because you examined options that included less than €7,000. One €10,000, another one €21,000. But no, no, no, no, no. You chose an option that was 20 times dearer than that. And what was the excuse for all your waste? What's the excuse for this? Is it because it had tougher glass? Because it looked nicer? Because the spacing was a bit better? Because the hospital green team thought it might be more publicly acceptable? Minister, if this was satire, it would be unbelievable. Patients are being treated in trolleys, in corridors in our hospitals in Kerry and elsewhere. That's the reality. Families are desperately trying to access the care and support that they need. We have staff that are being burnt out, that are leaving the system. And now, on top of all of that, you've imposed a recruitment embargo on parts of the health system. And while essential posts go unfilled under your watch, your government signs off on a luxury bike shed and lectures the public about value for money and the need to tighten your belts in these challenging times. And let's be clear about this here. This isn't just waste, Minister. This is a culture of arrogance. It's the same culture of arrogance where there's always money for the vanity projects, for the indulgence, but never money for the patients and those at the front line. It's the same rotten culture, Minister, that gave us the previous bike shed scandals. One rule for ordinary workers, one rule for the ordinary people. But when it comes to your government, when it comes to wasting public money, there is no end. Because what are people told? They're told to tighten their belts. Hospitals are told to cut back. But when it comes to your waste and excess, the checkbook, that's always open. And people watching this, people listening about this story here, they're working hard, Minister. They're paying their mortgage. They're paying their rent. They're trying to pay their bills, whether it's electricity, groceries, whether it's the cost of fuel and energy costs. They're trying to do their best. They don't get to waste €127,000, shrug their shoulders and just move on. But your government is doing it again and again and again, and nobody is ever held accountable. And let's call this what it is. This isn't just bad luck. It's not oversight. This is pure waste. That's what it is. It's squandering the people's money. But your government keeps on doing it and nobody's held accountable. So I'm going to ask you, Minister, how can you justify imposing a recruitment embargo across parts of the health service while defending €127,000 for a designer bank cheque? Seriously, Minister. Thank you, Deputy. Deputy, I think each and every one of us, whether it's ministers in departments, whether it's deputies in this house, we all want to make sure that every penny that is spent, every taxpayer's penny that is spent, that it's spent well, that it goes to where it needs to go, and that it goes to those who need it. And that means across every department. That includes health. It includes education. It includes active travel. It includes investing in critical infrastructure. And so the €105 billion that was announced in last year's budget, there's a role for all of us, for ministers, for the departments, for agencies, to make sure that we get value for money, that we spend our money where it's needed, that budgets and that projects come in on time, on budget. And that has to be a focus and a priority for all of us. That is an objective of government, but that's an objective of all of us here in this house. One of DPRI's key roles is the development of guidance, codes of practice, circulars, to make sure that we get best value for money, that we adhere to critical infrastructure guidelines, that we have codes of practice in place that are adhered to, but that we make sure that what we're spending our money on, that it's spent well. That we make sure, whether it's money invested in health, in education, in communications, in large-scale transport, or any other larger projects, that we spend our money well. And just to suggest that that's not happening, if you look at communications, we have a €3 billion national broadband plan that was delivered on time, on budget, and is ahead of schedule. We have large-scale transport projects that are, again, coming in on time and within budget. In the health sector, which you've referenced, where more money has been spent than ever before, we'll have more people working in our health service this year than we did last year. Of course, we have to make sure that where budgets are set, within hospitals, within regions, that people are able to stick to those, because if you go over your budget, then somebody else in a different part of the country suffers. But when you look at the projects and the investment, we have acute facility expansions in 2025, works to expand ward blocks in CUH, in St James's, Connolly, Blanfordstown, the Mater Hospital, University Hospital. They've all been delivered on time and on budget. These are facilities for people, where people will benefit on a day-to-day basis. The Mater Hospital, the Rockwing, again, completed in 2023. The National Forensic Central Hospital, Merlin Park University Hospital. And then you look at further and higher education, and you look at education. So we are absolutely determined that every cent that is spent, the €105.4 billion that was announced last year, the money that we'll spend this year on our budget, the money that was spent and announced in the last couple of weeks, or the money that was announced, that will go directly to those who need it. But we need to make sure that we have a balance, that we are investing in active travel, that we are encouraging people to cycle to work where they can, that we are investing in our communities, that it's not just going directly into the services and the infrastructure as well. But of course, I mean, nobody agrees with what happened here in Leinster House last year. And that's why the OPW have put in place new measures. That's why they've put forward changes to make sure that something like that can't happen again. But the project that you've mentioned in question, it went through the procurement process, it went through the proper guidelines, and what was delivered was what was decided was needed for the hospital in the place that it was located. But to say that in the scheme of what is a €105 billion budget, with additional funding already provided for this year, I mean, we've provided €750 million to people because we know that it's needed. €100 million directly to our farmers, our contractors, those who are quite literally providing and putting the food on our tables, €100 million extra for our hauliers, those who are transporting our goods, our food, our commodities, and our people across the country. But we're also supporting people directly with the reduction in overall fuel prices, whether it's the 32 cent or the 27 cent, or the marked reduction in marked green diesel. All of this is because we appreciate and understand that while we need to continue to invest in our infrastructure, we need to continue to spend money on our schools, on our hospitals, directly on support that people need. We also need to invest in the here and now and acknowledge that people are in a very difficult position, that because of the war in Iran, because of the conflict in the Ukraine, because of what's happened post-COVID, all of this cumulatively has put an immense stress and pressure on people. But that doesn't mean that every single cent that's been spent is not being spent well and not being spent wisely. The public are sick to the teeth on this, and you stand there and you defend €127,000 being spent on a designer bike shed at the same time when your government is imposing a recruitment embargo. Do you not know how tone deaf that is? Do you not know what the family whose mother is lying on a hospital trolley in a corridor in one of those hospitals feels when they hear that? Or when the care that's sitting at home can't actually care for people because there's a recruitment embargo that doesn't allow the hours for home help to be provided? Do you not understand that people are sick to the teeth of your government, which are serial wasters of public money, spending money over and over again on vanity projects? €336,000 on the Leinster House bike shed, €100,000 on the Hollow Street Hospital bike shed, and now you defend €127,000 on a Kerry bike shed in the hospital. The most expensive option, one that's 20 times dearer. Minister, these are vanity projects, and you've lost the run of yourself in terms of public spending. You've lost the run of yourself in terms of value for money, and you're tone deaf when you talk to people that they have to wait for support until next year's budget, that you have to tighten your belt, but yet you sign the cheques for designer bike sheds and you stand there and you defend that at a time when you're telling people that we're imposing a recruitment embargo. Nurses are at breaking point, frontline staff are at breaking point, this waiting list are getting longer, and yet you defend the indefensible. How do you make that, how do you square that circle? So Deputy, do you expect that, or do you accept that we're spending more money on health every year? Do you accept that this time next year there'll be more people working in our health service? We can't have a situation where money is being spent where there's no accountability as to where it's going within our health service or anywhere else as well. Would you talk about our budgets? We wouldn't have the money to invest if we followed the tact that you wanted to take. Well I don't stand here every Thursday, I listen to it every Thursday, and every single week you come in here, you want a new budget, you've put forward a new plan for three billion euro additional. You don't take into account the fact that if we were to spend every penny, if we were to spend every penny that you want to spend, not only would we not have a surplus, not only would we not have a surplus, we wouldn't actually have the money to spend. You don't want any taxes, you don't want to take in any money, you just want to spend it. You don't take into account that the money that you're proposing we spend would increase costs even more for people, by about five percent, three billion euro. I've answered your question very clearly. Deputy Daugherty, allow the Minister to respond. What we have is an infrastructure plan of 102 billion euro, and what you won't ever say Deputy, and you can talk about one project, and I think we all agree we need to make sure whether it's a large or a small project, that value for money is achieved. What you never accept is that we have 102 billion euro being spent in our schools, our hospitals, our road networks, our infrastructure, all of which people will benefit from. We wouldn't have a red cent of that if we followed the economic plans that you have proposed.