Public spending transparency
Deputy Shanahan criticised the budget process and State spending priorities. The Minister for Public Expenditure replied that performance reports and Oireachtas oversight already provide transparency on how public money is used.
In the coming weeks, the budget will be formed and presented to this House. It must be said that no other democratic parliament would accept such a black box of spending. We will see the money going in. There will be more than €12 billion in capital expenditure next year, the bits and bobs that may find our ramshackle hospitals, our unreliable public transport and our patchy and dangerous roads. We see tinpot examinations of public spending but no serious energy is expended on seriously addressing the imbalance in State spending. Most of all, we will see the haves and the have-nots, the winners and the losers, of the public trough. The politics of old Ireland are alive and well in public spending disbursement but it is no longer "Ballymagash". It is now Blanchardstown and Blackrock, to be fair. In presenting the upcoming budget, will the Government allow the people to see where the money is being spent?
Comment on this
I am happy to take that question as it has only been a few weeks since we published the performance reports of our public services, which laid out for every Vote what the money is being used for and what outputs it delivers to citizens. With regard to the Department of Health, a capital plan is published by the HSE. We also have a Minister for Health, a Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and a chief executive of the HSE who regularly appear before various Oireachtas committees to answer questions regarding the use of money.