Matt Shanahan urges pause on National Maternity and Cork projects

Ano gara maagad, Cian Cora. Cian Cora. Just at the outset, on behalf of the regional group, could I welcome Deputy Batchik, and I am sure she will make a very fine contribution to this style. Cian Cora. Teach, I have a strange request to make of you. I am asking you to please consider pausing the development of the National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent's and the Cork Collective Hospital. Until we have appropriate project management, budgeting and oversight. I make this remarkable request because, as a TD, I am notionally charged with providing parliamentary oversight on public spending. Budget 2022 is being framed at the moment, as is the review of the Ireland 2040 capital projects. And this dial knows virtually nothing of these plans. PQs are glibly answered, if answered at all. Ministers usually refuse to address the question asked. PAC and CAG only look at the spilt milk that they can find. And next Monday on, even that thin oversight hibernates until autumn. There is more drone footage, Teach, than spreadsheets in the Ireland 2040 plans. It is impossible to see where public money goes. Is this because it suits those at Cabinet? Is the bulk of discretionary spending being funneled into Dublin and Cork, home to almost all our ministers? Do not tell me I am wrong, Teach, or name-check some projects. Show me where the money is going. Publish proper granular data on public spending, particularly capital projects. Vast parts of Ireland are frozen out of a fair share of capital spending. Being fobbed off by tokenistic URDF funding when the billion-euro projects flow to Cork and Dublin. With £10 billion of capital expenditure this year, the South-East should be getting £890 million, and Watford should be getting £230 million. There are no significant projects currently being implemented in the South-East. None. Nothing. Nada. On all core regional issues. Our hospital, our university, the M24 motorway, the North Quays, our railways, port and airport. Your government, like almost every government before yours, has slow walked every strategic project from the South-East while nursing along their own pet projects. We would make wiser decisions over spending if people could see where the people's money is going. This is what I am asking you to implement, Teach. Thank you, Deputy Shanahan. Teach. First of all, I think the need for a national maternity hospital is without question. The women of Ireland need a modern national maternity hospital with the best of care, at a tertiary level. The current conditions are simply not good enough or tenable into the future. It just can't be sustained. So we do need a new national maternity hospital. And in terms of the value for money, I think the procurement provisions in public expenditure that are there would have to apply. And that is why I desist from global figures and saying it will cost this or it will cost that. It should very much depend on the tendering operation and it should very much depend on the detailed spec before any global figures are referenced in respect of a project of the scale of a national maternity hospital. But we need it. And the women of Ireland need it without question. And I would also say that in terms of the South-East, and Minister Mary Butler has been extremely assertive in respect of Waterford and the South-East more generally, as has Minister Brown and others as well. But I am somewhat surprised when you said that you called URDF money tokenistic. 190 million is not tokenistic to the Chair. I think we have to accept that under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund today. That is substantial funding. Now, the regional investment, Jobs and Waterford for example, the regional enterprise plan for the South-East, currently being developed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Tarnashtray and Minister Troy, closely engaged with the South-East Committee in that regard, building on the success of clusters in the region in life sciences, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies, the biopharma, agri-food, engineering, financial services, technology and international business services. The Technological University of the South-East has progressed. I think it is vital, myself, for the region. It will be very significant for the region and funding will accompany the development of the South-East University, the Technological University of the South-East. It is interesting that employment in idea-supported companies has increased by 2.8% in the South-East. There is about 13,461 working in 74 IDA-supported companies. It is at a 10-year high, no FDI employment in the South-East, but obviously we have to keep on developing that and that is why advanced properties are being developed by the IDA to attract new investment to the region. There was a very welcome announcement recently for 90 jobs by Horizon Therapeutics for Waterford, as you may be aware. Enterprise Ireland is also supporting clients and the South-East is one of the few regions that were doing positive employment growth in 2020 of 2%. As you know, you know the progress with the CAT lab, although it did take time, but again progress has been made in relation to that. It is expected that the main contract will hand over the project by the end of June 2022, which I think is a welcome development in itself. We will continue to allocate significant funding to the South-East into the future. Deputy Sianahan Deputy Sianahan Deputy Sianahan I do not think anyone would argue that there is a need for a children's hospital in this country too, but I doubt anybody would agree that we needed to spend close to €2 billion providing it. Our country has paid a high price for repeatedly stuffing up its finances. Our methods of oversight are not up to the task, and CAG, good as they are, are no match for the scale of the expenditure and ambition and the responsibilities of public expenditure. We will be back in the hapenny place very shortly if we fritter away this public money on political codology and strokes. A 2000 OECD study of budget oversight by the Oireachtas said that we, as in we Oireachtas members, did not engage with the budget in a meaningful or impactful way. We still need better budgeting procedures and information. In 500 days or so, you will hand over this office to another person. I offer you instituting proper sectoral and regional spending reporting would be an enduring legacy. I am asking you to instigate actions that can deliver just such a legacy, a legacy of equity and fairness to the Irish people and particularly to the people of the South East. Thank you Deputy Shanahan, Taoiseach. Thank you Deputy for raising the issue, and of course, value for public expenditure is very important. The Minister for Public Expenditure, Michael McGrath, is keenly aware of that, very focused on that, and has a range of measures already and decisions taken to provide for that. And in respect of the South East, the Government, I have to reassure the Deputy is absolutely committed to that in terms of overall funding that has been allocated to Waterford under urban regeneration. And in respect of working with the Council Chief Executive in terms of the North Keys project, notwithstanding the recent difficulties there, but the funding was allocated in advance of that. The difficulties have not been on the State side, but we are working with the Council to advance that project. And also to say that across the industrial, higher education, and the range of other projects, that the Government will be continuing to support the economic needs of the South East, right throughout the South East, in terms of Waterford obviously, and Carla Kilkenny, and Wexford and so on. Thank you very much Taoiseach. By the way, Deputy Shanahan raised a question about responses to parliamentary questions. I have to say that in recent years, I would have considered in general, that the quality of response to parliamentary questions has improved. But I would bring to your attention and to the attention of all members, that Standing Order 54 provides an avenue for deputies dissatisfied with how questions are dealt with to refer to my office. And I am more than happy to deal with such referrals. We go...