Seo scannal bothán rothar eile - €127,000 caite ar bhothán rothar in Ospidéal Chiarraí. Tagann sé seo ag an am céanna ina bhfuil Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte ag rá go bhfuil sé ag dul siar ar a bhuiséad, go bhfuil smacht caiteachais i bhfeidhm anois, agus go bhfuil moratóir ar earcaíocht ar fud chuid den tseirbhís sláinte. Deirtear le hoibrithe cúram sláinte nach bhfuil go leor airgid ansin. Tá folúntais nach bhfuil líonta. Tá foireann atá traochta. Tá othair atá ag fanacht. Tá páiste atá ag fanacht míonna i gcomhair measúnuithe. Ach ar an lámh eile, níl fadhb ar bith ag an Rialtas €127,000 a fháil agus a chaitheamh le cúpla rothar a choinneáil tirim.

Another day, another bike shed scandal, and not for the first time involving the Minister's Government. We had a €336,000 Leinster House bike shed. Almost €100,000 was spent on a bike shed at Holles Street, and now we have another bike shed, costing €127,000, at University Hospital Kerry. It is another slap in the face to ordinary people right across this country, workers and families who are already at breaking point. This comes at the exact time that the Government is imposing a recruitment embargo across parts of the health service. Healthcare workers are being told that there is no money. Vacancies are going unfilled. Staff are working to exhaustion. Patients are waiting for longer and longer. Children are waiting for months for assessment, yet, on the other hand, somehow the Government, no problem, finds €127,000 for a designer bike shed, and that was signed off without blinking an eye. Does the Minister know what the most outrageous part of that is? Vastly cheaper options were available. The Government examined options that included one at less than €7,000, one at €10,000 and another at €21,000, but no the Government chose an option that was 20 times dearer than that. What was the excuse for all the Government's waste? What the excuse for this because it had tougher glass, because it looked nicer, because the spacing was a bit better and because the hospital green team thought it might be more publicly acceptable?

If this was satire, it would be unbelievable. Patients are being treated on trolleys in corridors in our hospitals, in Kerry and elsewhere. That is the reality. Families are desperately trying to access the care and supports they need. We have staff who are being burnt out and are leaving the system. Now, on top of all of that, the Government has imposed a recruitment embargo on parts of the health system. While essential posts go unfilled under the Government's watch, it has signed off on a luxury bike shed and lectures the public about value for money and the need to tighten their belts in these challenging times.

Let us be clear that this is not just waste. This is a culture of arrogance. It is the same culture of arrogance where there is always money for the vanity projects and the indulgence but never money for the patients and those on the front line. It is the same rotten culture that gave us the previous bike shed scandals. There is one rule for the ordinary workers and the ordinary people but when it comes to the Minister's Government and to wasting the public money, there is no end. People are told to tighten their belts. Hospitals are told to cut back. However, when it comes to the Government's waste and excess, the chequebook is always open. People watching this and listening to this story are working hard. They are paying their mortgage and their rent. They are trying to pay their bills, whether for electricity, groceries, fuel or energy. They are trying to do their best. They do not get to waste €127,000, shrug their shoulders, and just move on. The Minister's Government does it again and again, and nobody is ever held accountable.

Let us call this what it is. This is not just bad luck. It is not oversight. This is pure waste. It is squandering the people's money but the Government keeps on doing it and nobody is held accountable. How can the Minister justify imposing a recruitment embargo across parts of the health service while defending €127,000 for a designer bike shed?

Each and every one of us, whether Ministers in Departments or Deputies in this House, wants to make sure that every taxpayers' penny that is spent is spent well, goes to where it needs to go and goes to those who need it. That is across every Department, including health, education, active travel, and investing in critical infrastructure. With the €105 billion that was announced in last year's budget, there is a role for all of us, including Ministers, Departments, and agencies, to make sure we get value for money, spend it where it is needed, and that projects come in on time and on budget. That has to be a focus and priority for all of us. That is an objective of Government and of all of us in this House.

One of the Department of public expenditure and reform's key roles is the development of guidance, codes of practice, and circulars to make sure 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, and that we make sure that what we are spending our money on is spent well, whether it is money invested in health, education, communications, large-scale transport, or any other larger projects. Before suggesting that is not happening, look at communications where we have the €3 billion national broadband plan which was delivered on time, on budget, and is ahead of schedule. We have large-scale transport projects that are coming in on time and within budget. In the health sector, which the Deputy referenced, more money is being spent than ever before. We will 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 and within regions, 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.

When you look at the projects and the investment, we had acute facility expansions in 2025, with works to expand ward blocks in Cork University Hospital, St. James's, Connolly, Blanchardstown, and the Mater hospital. They have all been delivered on time and on budget. These are facilities for people where people will benefit day-to-day. The Mater hospital's Rock Wing was completed in 2023. I mention the national forensic central hospital and Merlin Park University Hospital. Look at further and higher education and at education.

We are absolutely determined that every cent that is spent of the €105.4 billion budget announced last year, which we will spend this year, and the money announced in the past couple of weeks, will go directly to those who need it but we need to make sure 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 and that it is not just going directly into services and infrastructure.

Nobody agrees with what happened here in Leinster House last year. That is why the OPW has put in place new measures and put forward changes to make sure something like that cannot happen again but the project the Deputy mentioned went through the procurement process and the proper guidelines. What was delivered was what was decided was needed for the hospital in the place that it was located. That is in the scheme of a €105 billion budget, with additional funding already provided for this year. We have provided €750 million to people because we know that it is needed. Some €100 million has been provided directly to our farmers and contractors who are quite literally providing and putting the food on our tables, and there is €100 million extra for our hauliers, who are transporting our goods, food, commodities and people across the country. We are also supporting people directly with the reduction in overall fuel prices, whether it is the 32 cent, 27 cent, or the significant 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 and to spend money on our schools, hospitals, and directly on supports people need, we also need to invest in the here and now, and acknowledge that people are in a very difficult position because of the war in Iran, the conflict in Ukraine, and because of what has happened post Covid. All of this cumulatively has put immense stress and pressure on people. That does not mean that every single cent that is being spent is not being spent well and wisely.

The public is sick to the teeth of this. The Minister stands there and defends €127,000 being spent on a designer bike shed at the same time as the Government is imposing a recruitment embargo. Does the Minister not know how tone-deaf that is and what the family whose mother is lying on a hospital trolley in a corner of one of those hospitals feel when they hear that, or when the carer who is sitting at home cannot actually care for people because there is a recruitment embargo that does not allow the hours for home help to be provided? Does the Minister not understand that people are sick to the teeth of the Government, which is a serial waster of public money, spending money over and over again on vanity projects? That includes €336,000 on the Leinster House bike shed, €100,000 on the Holles Street hospital bike shed, and now the Minister defends €127,000 on a bike shed in the Kerry hospital. It was the most expensive option, at 20 times dearer. These are vanity projects and the Government has lost the run of itself on public spending and value for money.

The Government is tone deaf when it talks to people about how they will have to wait until next year's budget for supports and have to tighten their belts. Yet the Government signed the cheques for designer bike sheds and the Minister stands there and defends that at a time the Government is telling people it is imposing a recruitment embargo. Nurses are at breaking point.

The Deputy to conclude.

Front-line staff are at breaking point. These waiting lists are getting longer yet the Minister defends the indefensible. How does she square that circle?

Does the Deputy accept we are spending more money on health every year?

With the cost of the bike shed, of course the Government can.

This time next year there will be more people working in our health service. We cannot have a situation where money is being spent and there is no accountability as to where it is going within our health service or anywhere else as well.

That is the problem; there is no accountability.

The Deputy talks about our budgets. We would not have the money to invest if we followed the tack the Deputy wants us to take.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

While I do not stand here every Thursday, I listen every Thursday and every single week, the Deputy comes in here and wants a new budget. Sinn Féin has put forward a new plan for €3 billion additional funding but does not take into account the fact that if we were to spend every penny-----

What about the bike shed?

-----that the Deputy wants to spend-----

Tax and spend, Pearse.

The Minister has not mentioned the bike shed once.

Not only would we not have a surplus-----

Tax and spend, Pearse.

Order, please.

What about the bike shed?

How many bike sheds-----

Let the Minister speak.

-----and we would not actually have the money to spend. Sinn Féin does not want any taxes or to take in any money. It just wants to spend it. Sinn Féin does not take into account that the money it is proposing the Government spends would increase costs even more for people by about 5% or €3 billion.

Answer my question please, with respect.

I have answered the Deputy's question very clearly.

What about the bike shed? I have asked the Minister twice now. How can she defend that?

Deputy Doherty, allow the Minister to respond.

What we have is an infrastructure plan of €102 billion. The Deputy can talk about one project. I think we all agree we need to make sure whether it is a large or small project, that value for money is achieved.

But it was not. The Minister should suigh síos. She has no answers.

What Deputy Doherty will never accept is that €102 billion is being spent in our schools hospitals, our road networks and our infrastructure-----

I thank the Minister.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

-----all of which people will benefit from.

The Minister should conclude. Deputy Nash is next.

We would not have a red cent of that if we followed the economic plans Sinn Féin has proposed.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.