The serial waste of the public's money on the watch of the Government is absolutely astonishing. The catalogue of waste is well rehearsed. A sum of €336,000 was spent on a bicycle shelter and the Government cannot even tell us who signed off on it yet. There was €1.4 million on a security hut. There was a doubling of the cost of modular homes for Ukrainians to a jaw-dropping €442,000 each, despite being initially costed at €200,000 per unit. Some €9 million is being spent on phone pouches, something the Government has dressed up as a mental health measure for school students, while schools are crying out for services. It is a move most people think is absolutely ludicrous, while it seems the only people who do not think that are those within the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party.

Do not even get me started on the most expensive hospital in the world. The debacle surrounding the massive, mind-boggling cost overruns and the never-ending delays at the national children's hospital is a tale of incompetence for the history books. The Government finds it so incredibly easy to squander taxpayers' hard-earned money and it seems there is just no end to it. This morning, the people of Ireland got to read yet another chapter in the Government's sorry story of waste. We learned in the Irish Medical Times that a further six HSE construction projects have run over budget to the grand tune of €17 million. Each of these projects was initially costed at €10 million and every single one of them has run over the originally approved price. The Government's waste of public money has gone on a roadshow all over the country. The first stop is in the Tánaiste's home city of Cork, where a community nursing unit is over budget by nearly €6 million. The next stop is in my home city of Galway, where a radiation oncology building is over budget by €4.16 million. Back in Cork, a ward block at the Mercy hospital is over budget by €2.72 million, and back in County Galway, in Tuam, a residential care unit is over budget by €2.38 million. In Dublin, a critical care unit at Tallaght hospital is €2.23 million over budget and the final stop is in Kilkenny, where a ward block in St. Luke's hospital is nearly €500,000 over budget.

I know that all these projects are extremely important for the people. These projects are badly needed to serve the communities in those areas and God knows we need the health infrastructure badly after decades of bad policies and bad decisions by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It should not be beyond us to deliver what our people need and to deliver it on budget, using the public's money wisely, but it seems at this stage the Government is just incapable of doing that, so the waste just goes on and on. I know that the Tánaiste is going to cite inflation in the construction sector, but the overrun on the nursing unit in Cork was a staggering 25% and that is just not where inflation in the construction sector is. The sum of €17 million is a massive amount when it comes to health. We were here just yesterday talking about a special needs school in Dublin facing closure for the sake of €125,000 a year and the parents from that school had to go onto national TV to plead for help. In the budget, the Government gave only €2.9 million for youth mental health services, which are on the floor. This has a very big impact and real-life consequences for people. We now see this waste right across the board. Waste and incompetence in the use of public money is the hallmark of the Government and it has to stop.

Does the Tánaiste accept that this runaway train of waste of the public's money on the watch of his Government is unacceptable? What is he going to do to stop it? Will he tell the Dáil whether any other public projects have gone over budget?

I welcome the pupils from St. Columba's National School in Cork. I hope to meet them after this session.

Ní aontaím leis an Teachta. Bíonn suas le €14 billiún á chaitheamh ag an Rialtas gach aon bhliain anois. Tá an-chuid foirgneamh scoile, tograí sláinte agus tithíochta curtha i bhfeidhm ar fud na tíre. I do not agree with the Deputy's overall narrative in respect of what has been probably the most extensive building of schools, primary care centres, hospital facilities and public facilities across the country. We have provided thousands of beds in our healthcare sector since the Government was formed, the vast majority on time and within budget, and the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire is a very good example of that.

We have had the largest schools building programme in a generation over the past four years, and the Deputy did not reference all the schools that came in on budget and on time, with exceptional standards of quality. I recently opened an Educate Together school in Douglas, Cork, and I invite her to visit that school to see the standard, the spec and the quality of provision. Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal in Blarney is another example. It is a new post-primary school with accommodation for 1,000 pupils, including four new classrooms for special education, at a total estimate of €31 million. The Deputy spoke about Limerick. The Educate Together there is a new 1,000 post-primary school, completed for €35 million. The extension of St. Conleth and Mary’s Primary School in Newbridge, comprising 18 new classrooms and four classrooms for children with special educational needs, was completed with an investment of €24 million. The Central Mental Hospital in Portrane was also completed on time and on budget.

The Deputy might be interested to hear that yesterday I visited Shanganagh. I dug the site at Shanganagh two years ago. It is a Land Development Agency project. Close to 600 houses are now complete on time and within budget. I know that Sinn Féin wants to get rid of the Land Development Agency, change it and so on, even though it has 14,000 houses planned to 2028. Sinn Féin's proposals for more delay and disruption and for changing the remit are what give rise-----

Change the narrative.

-----to increased expenditure and so on.

There has been inflation, coming out of the war in Ukraine. We all know that. Everybody knows there was a period coming out of the start of that war and coming after Covid where the cost of building materials, in particular, went through the roof. We know that from some of the road projects. Some of those road projects we approved, where the final bill was higher than what was estimated, were road projects for which Deputies from Sinn Féin and, indeed, other parties had lobbied extensively, irrespective of the price. Sinn Féin's attitude in here to certain road projects-----

The price does not matter.

-----which were being evaluated was such that its Deputies in here said they wanted the project to get done and asked why we were delaying it. The Dunkettle interchange is an example. It is an exceptional piece of work from an engineering perspective on the way into the Jack Lynch Tunnel, but I recall that when we went back to tender to get better value for money compared with the original tender, the cry in the House from the Opposition, including from Sinn Féin Deputies, was that we were delaying it deliberately and they asked us to please get on with it.

As the Deputy well knows, there is the Comptroller and Auditor General. I acknowledge the criticism of the bike shed and do not defend it at all. It should not have happened, in my view. That is why we have the C and AG.

We are spending about €14 billion per annum now in capital infrastructure works and, yes, we do need rigorous, vigilant examination of public expenditure through the public accounts committee and the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General to keep the broader system to heel.

Thosaigh an Tánaiste agus léirigh sé na tograí a tháinig isteach ar an bpraghas gur chóir dóibh teacht isteach. Is é sin an jab atá ag an Rialtas. Shílfeá go mbeadh a fhios ag an Tánaiste gur chóir d'aon togra teacht isteach ar an bpraghas gur chóir dó. The Tánaiste started off talking to me about the projects that have come in on budget. One would hope the Government would be trying to bring things in on budget. The reality here though is that it is not. There are so many examples of huge cost overruns consistently under this Government. Just to be very clear here: this is not just me saying it. The Government's own HSE audit and risk committee has identified this. When the Government uses contractors, it is supposed to share the risk. What is clear here that it is the public purse, the taxpayers' money, that is always the one that takes the risk on board. The Tánaiste did not answer me. Is it unacceptable that there are consistently these overruns? He did not mention who signed off on the bike shelter, and he certainly did not identify what other projects went over the cost they are supposed to go over. That is unacceptable. The Tánaiste should see that as unacceptable and he should outline that to this Dáil.

We are fundamentally committed to value for money. The Comptroller and Auditor General is there; the public accounts committee is there. This is part of our system of rigorously examining public expenditure. My point, in response to the Deputy's presentation, is the lack of balance in her presentation and the lack of any reference to some very significant projects that have been delivered. More than 330 school building projects were delivered in 2023 under the large scale and additional accommodation programmes. Under National Development Plan 2018-2023, we are looking at 1,200 school building projects completed. It is an enormous amount of construction-----

That is not the question I asked.

-----and transformation of our school system. In social housing along in 2023-----

Will the Tánaiste answer the question?

-----some 8,000 new build social housing homes were delivered.

Can the Tánaiste answer the question?

Then if we look at transport links, the Deputy knows herself about the Maynooth bypass-----

This is Leaders' Questions.

I am sure the Deputy welcomed that Maynooth bypass. However, there is also the Collooney to Castlebaldwin N4 road project. Then there is Gort to Tuam on the N17-N18-----

Can the Tánaiste answer the question?

-----and the N25 New Ross bypass. These are all projects. There is the Westport to Turlough N5 protect, the N22 Baile Bhuirne to Macroom-----

The Tánaiste is talking down the clock.

My point is, I am redressing the imbalance-----

I am asking the Tánaiste questions. It is Leaders' Questions.

-----in the Deputy's presentation. If she talks to the people in Macroom right now-----

Time is up, please, Tánaiste.

-----and the people all along there who travel to Cork and Kerry, she will hear that the Macroom and Baile Bhuirne bypass has been an extraordinary-----

The Tánaiste does not know what contracts are.

-----game-changer in terms of-----

The Tánaiste has mentioned every area in Cork. Does he think there is an election coming?

-----the quality of life of the local people. It is well worth the expenditure that was allocated to it.

I ask the Tánaiste to answer the question. It is Leaders' Questions.