Here we go again. The Government never tires of wasting taxpayers' money. A sum of €750,000 was used to construct 14 steps and a ramp at Deer Park in Mount Merrion. Access to public spaces for people with disabilities is very important, but for €750,000 I was expecting a breathtaking feat of engineering. There is nothing spectacular, however. In fact, it is very ordinary, literally just steps and a ramp. The only breathtaking thing about this is the cost. Three quarters of a million euro was forked out from the public purse. Procurement experts have described this spend as wildly excessive. I describe it as downright insulting to people.

I have raised issues of waste with the Taoiseach time and again, but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have not learned a single thing from the litany of waste that is now the hallmark of the Government. They are serial wasters of public money. Hundreds of thousands of euro for bike sheds; €1.4 million for a security hut; €500,000 for a perimeter wall; €20 million renting offices that lay empty; and over €100,000 on a scanner for the National Gallery that lay idle for almost a decade. Little wonder then that the PAC's report yesterday pointed to serious and persistent deficiencies in spending oversight from the Department for the arts. This is the case right across Government. The list of waste is as long as your arm. I could go on but I would be here all day.

While the Government pours millions of euro of people's money down the drain, workers and families count every single euro just to get by. This is the same Government that delivered a budget of €9.4 billion that left people worse off and cancelled energy credits as families struggled to light and heat their homes. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael keep the strings of the public purse very tight for working people. They are on the ball there and very diligent but, by God, they are happy for people's cash to be blown at every other turn. There is no oversight, governance or accountability and nobody shouting "Stop". In the grand scheme of the Government's billions, €750,000 might not mean a lot to it, but it would pay the salaries of 20 new special needs assistants or 20 new nurses for a year. Instead, the money is spent on a few steps and a ramp that surely could have been built for a fraction of that cost. It is scandalous. The Government is incapable of dealing with what is clearly a widespread systemic problem. Tá €750,000 caite ar chéimeanna agus rampa. Léiríonn sé sin go bhfuil an Rialtas fós ag cur airgead amú ar nós is cuma leis.

The Government is allowing this waste of public money to happen over and again and is doing nothing about it. I have two questions for the Taoiseach. Does he believe that €750,000 for steps and a ramp represents value for the people's money? Does he now accept that a waste audit across Departments, as called for by Sinn Féin, is now urgently required to get to grips with this constant waste?

First of all, I do not believe €750,000 is right, proper or appropriate in terms of 14 steps, but it seems to me the scheme that was completed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was not just about 14 steps. Nonetheless, the cost is excessive by any yardstick. The Deputy said Sinn Féin had called for a waste audit. I think Sinn Féin could take the example of Deputy Albert Dolan here in front of me, who has done more than most Deputies in the House to shine a light on public expenditure with his online facility and so on. He is a Deputy who is doing the work Sinn Féin is asking us to do.

TikTok.

Sinn Féin is very good at asking and asking but, surely it has a bit of resources and capacity, if it is that concerned about waste-----

The Government can legislate.

You are the Government. You should know how much is spent-----

-----other than utilising a particular case, which was bad, to try to just go on the waste thing as a political and electoral exercise.

In terms of the interaction between the NTA and the county council, €750,000 is too much. Accessibility is very important. In that context, accessibility for wheelchair users, cyclists, parents with buggies and so on was the original objective, apparently, of this scheme by the council and the NTA.

More generally, about €360 million of capital funds has been provided for walking and cycling infrastructure in 2025, the vast majority of which was on budget and on time and provided exceptional resources to people. That is the other side of this story. We can pick the one project that is, without question, excessive and difficult to comprehend in terms of costs, but there have been many other projects I have witnessed that have revolutionised active travel in every town, city and county in the country. Thankfully, more funding will be announced today in respect of more active travel in terms of greenways and so forth. Yes, there has to be a rigorous focus on costs - there is no question about that - and on value for money in respect of changes. There is a local authority audit structure to audit what local authorities are doing, and also in respect of the NTA.

I am sure the Deputy is aware, as she has probably spoken to her party's councillors and so on, that this particular project apparently included a new pedestrian-cycle ramp, new granite to upgrade the existing concrete footpaths, construction of a new signalised pedestrian crossing, traffic calming measures, retaining walls and so on, which were all put in. That is a significant list. Again, I do not personally engage in every item of council expenditure, although I think the work that Albert Dolan has done has been very effective in providing material for people to track public expenditure on specific projects. I am sure Sinn Féin can avail of his good work in respect of that.

It is a serious issue if a council exceeds significantly. The original cost was in or around €400,000 and the final cost was €750,000. By any yardstick, that is unacceptable, notwithstanding whatever complexities were involved. Admhaím nach bhfuil sé sin sásúil in aon chor. Bhí an togra faoi stiúir ag Comhairle Contae Dhún Laoghaire agus Ráth an Dúin. Bhí sé ag oibriú leis an NTA ar dtús ach don togra faoi leith seo, is an iomarca caiteachais ar fad é.

So bad and so chronic is the pattern of waste that even the Government's own Members have to acknowledge it, even if the Taoiseach cannot.

I just have.

That is where we are at. If this were a one-off event, that would be one thing, but it is not. This is now part of an established pattern of waste on the Government's watch. It is persistent and is right across Government. It is not simply local authorities; it is right at the heart of the Government. To add insult to injury, the Government that tolerates, allows and is asleep at the wheel while vast sums of public moneys are wasted is the same Government that is very vigilant, mean and tight when it comes to working people.

I ask again, as he is the Taoiseach and not I, if he will instigate a waste audit right across Government. That is what is required. Or will he simply allow the people's money to be wasted again and again and again?

The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has already introduced more robust and tighter procedures in the area of public spending. On the other hand, the Deputy is saying we are very mean and so on, we are being criticised for overspending-----

Wasting.

-----notwithstanding her desire that we spend billions more.

We do not mean to the vultures. We mean working people.

The Deputy wants us to spend billions more than we allocated in the budget. Ireland's economy is one of the fastest growing economies globally. The stewardship of this economy has been good by this Government and by the previous Government despite Covid-----

You got lucky.

-----despite Brexit, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis that followed and the tariffs emanating from the United States. This has been a competent Government with regard to the economic management of this country.

Second time lucky Taoiseach.

The policies we have pursued are far superior to anything Sinn Féin has produced on the economic front over the past number of years.

There is no question about that. We have no truck with any waste in public expenditure-----

Yes, you do.

Yes, you do. That is why Albert-----

Please, Deputies.

-----and we will deal with it at every layer of Government. Sinn Féin has councillors on that council. Were its councillors with every other councillor tracking it? It is not good enough that there should be that level of expenditure, but we will deal with it.