I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this important question. There is no doubt this storm has caused significant chaos and hardship in many parts of this country, and disproportionately so in the west and north-west of the country; the Deputy is right in that regard. We are all collectively relieved in Ireland, most particularly those communities, that the power is finally back. I know that Deputy Doherty will join me in saying that the Trojan work carried out by workers from the ESB, local authorities, Uisce Éireann and others, on the front line in assisting people has been very important. We should commend and thank them for that. I wish to make one point, which I said last week. The comments of the chief executive of the ESB, which were perhaps said in a moment of haste or error, were insensitive. I welcome that he was big and decent enough to come out, acknowledge that himself and apologise for the insensitivity of those comments. That is important. In public life, any of us can say something in error or something that is insensitive but it is important to put your hands up afterwards and say that it could have been said in a much better way. We can come back another day to debate the ministerial presence in the west and north west. In the interests of time, I will not name all my colleagues who serve with diligence in a variety of roles in government. I will come back to that issue another day because we should not actually make the storm a point of political division. In fact, what I have seen over the past number of weeks is this Government working with people the length and breadth of Ireland. Indeed, Sinn Féin ministers were on to me looking for assistance from the Government to help with the storm situation in Northern Ireland because this storm was not partisan. This was a storm that involved everybody who held office putting their shoulder to the wheel and working with agencies and communities in the interest of trying to keep people safe. I must say that a lot was done right. We have to be conscious that because there was a red weather warning alert, lives were definitely saved in Ireland. In saying that, I, of course, think and acknowledge the loss of the life of Kacper Dudek in the Deputy's constituency. The warning system, however, worked. What we need to get much better at is preparedness and resilience at a community level. If we are being honest with each other, there are parts of the country, even counties that were badly affected, that did better than others in being prepared at that local level by having access to generators and having their local management plans. As part of the Government's review which will kick off shortly, we will need to look at what needs to be done at that local level to build up preparedness. Today, the Taoiseach and I have convened a meeting of relevant Government Ministers to begin to look at exactly how we better prepare for the next storm and for more adverse weather conditions in the future. As for the financial side, because the Deputy referenced the financial situation, the Minister, Deputy Dara Calleary, who is from the west, led with the Government's humanitarian assistance scheme in which we provided significant financial assistance to many thousands of people to try to help them in a desperately difficult situation, in which the lights were not on and people were trying to still feed and mind children or older people and fulfil care needs. A lot was done and there is a lot of work to do in this regard. I am very clear that the ESB should not - and will not - be gouging any customers on this matter. It has significant resources. The Government also intends to invest significant resources in improving infrastructure. We all, that is, every State agency, commercial or otherwise, Department and every local authority, need to now take the lessons of this storm and be more prepared for future weather events.
Sentiment score: 0.22
I thank Deputy Doherty. The long and the short answer is yes, we will be engaging with the ESB. We will also, in line with our programme for Government commitment, be engaging on the issue of energy costs overall. I can point to a number of measures the previous Government took and that this Government will be taking in respect of assisting people with their energy costs. People will remember that the previous Government took a number of measures around energy credits in order to assist people, in the here and now, with the cost of bills. The Deputy will be aware that these were welcomed by his constituents, by mine and by people right across the country. The Deputy will know that in the programme for Government we have also made commitments to keep the lower rate of VAT on energy bills and providing people with certainty for the period ahead. These are the practical measures we are taking right now to assist people with bills which can be large and which can make people feel financially insecure. Government will have a conversation with all State agencies and actors regarding energy prices going forward. We are happy to constructively engage on that.
Sentiment score: 0.42
A Dáil debate would of course be useful. I agree with Deputy Bacik that if we had committees established - and I hope we will very shortly - I am sure there would be very serious questions asked of the Arts Council. Breaching the public spending code cannot be a consequence-free zone. It simply cannot. These issues are, quite frankly, absolutely alarming. People can make mistakes in terms of the delivery of projects. That is one thing, but it is very different when you just ignore the public spending code and the various approval processes. There are very serious questions for the Arts Council to answer. In fairness to my colleague the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, he has only been in the Department a couple of weeks. I believe he has acted very swiftly. He briefed Cabinet on the matter yesterday and has commissioned a full external review of the governance and culture at the Arts Council, which Deputy Bacik has welcomed. I absolutely assure the Deputy that no one is happy with what has gone on here. When taxpayers' money is given to the Arts Council, it is for the exact reasons the Deputy has said. It is to support the many brilliant artists and artistic endeavours right across our country. We do not expect it to be spent on a computer system that does not work and we do not expect millions of taxpayers' money to be wasted, with nothing to show for it. There are extraordinarily serious questions for the Arts Council. I have no doubt that as well as the review the Minister has initiated, it is important when the new public accounts committee is established, it will look at this. Looking at the table of the companies involved in this project, at least 20 are listed. It is spreadsheet after spreadsheet. People made significant amounts of money and profited from this, but we do not have a computer system. I have a very simple philosophy. When we pay someone to manage and run an agency, we expect them to run it properly and in line with the public spending code. There are very serious issues that we already know of. The project cost was not properly estimated by the Arts Council and nor was any final estimate, as is required under the public spending code. Between 2021 and 2024, the Arts Council approved additional money for the project without approval from the Department, as is also required under the public spending code. The Arts Council frequently changed and extended contracts with certain external suppliers, going over the allowed limits for cost increases in several cases. These actions likely contravene public procurement procedures. In addition, exceeding prescribed contract value limits without retendering breaches EU procurement rules on substantial modifications to contracts. The Arts Council also failed to report these breaches in the chair's letter to the Minister, as required under the code of practice for the governance of State bodies. Let us be honest. The Arts Council has responsibility for a very sizeable budget which has significantly increased objectively in recent years. There are also issues with regard to the Department's oversight of the Arts Council ,and I do not shirk away from that either. That also has to be a part of the review.
Sentiment score: 0.09
I have already said I think that would be a good idea. The Minister has been in the post for approximately two weeks. I am not sure he could have acted much more quickly at all. In fact, it would have been impossible to have acted more quickly in terms of bringing this issue to Cabinet. To be very clear, because Deputy Bacik has said it twice, this issue was not brought to the attention of the previous Government. It would have been preferable had it been. As recently as this morning, I had that matter checked with both the Secretary General of the Department of arts and with the secretary to the Government as well. The Department adopted a view that it was endeavouring to get on top of the issue or gather all the facts. I do not think that is a good position. It should have been highlighted at a much earlier stage. Artists have been let down. The Arts Council does and has done great work, however, it has been let down by those who are running the organisation and who have left us with this mess, which contravenes the public spending code. That is what the initial examination tells us. Of course, there will have to be a full external review. The results of that will obviously have to be published, and we are happy to engage constructively on it.
Sentiment score: 0.17
Certainly, nobody on this side of the House in any way laughs about such matters. The Deputy is entirely correct. They are extraordinarily serious matters. Men and women get up every morning, go to work, do a hard day's work and pay their taxes, and they want to see those taxes spent well to deliver for them and their families and communities. It is also fair to say, however, that Government can only be accountable for what it is told. If there are officials in State agencies or others who are pursuing a project that does not adhere to the public spending code, that is not a small matter and it cannot and will not be a consequence-free zone. Let us be very clear. There are very serious consequences for politicians. We have a thing called an election. We put our name on a ballot paper and people in our communities go out and choose to vote or not vote for us. Everyone in here, including the Deputy, receives a mandate. People are getting a bit sick and tired, to put it mildly, of public money not being spent adequately and, as in this case, there being nothing to show for it. The Deputy is right about that. They are also tired of finding that there are individuals who are often somewhat anonymous when it comes to these issues. Let us be clear - I am very clear on this too - that people can make mistakes. We do not want a culture where people are risk averse. People are going to say "That's different". It is absolutely different; but when a mistake is made, you have to engage. This was not an example of that. In my view, this was a very clear and flagrant breach of the public spending code. I want to balance my comments by saying that in Ireland we do deliver an awful lot of projects very well. Our public servants deliver a lot of projects well, on budget, on time and even ahead of time and ahead of budget on occasion. The Deputy says he can list many projects. I can also list many projects that were delivered on budget and on time, be it the Moycullen bypass, the Dunkettle interchange or the Listowel bypass, to name just some in recent times. Other examples include new school extensions, new primary care centres, major hospital extensions like that relating to the Mater Hospital and St. Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny and the national broadband plan, which is the modern equivalent of rural electrification and which is on budget and ahead of schedule. The Deputy is quite right. Today, we should be talking about the issue relating to the Arts Council. I do not dispute that, but we also deliver very many projects across the public service on time and on budget. I say this to be balanced in my comments. What has happened in the Arts Council is a cause of serious concern, however. What concerns me, as Tánaiste and as a coalition leader, is the question of whether it is confined just to this project and how we can have confidence in the overall governance structure and systems within the Arts Council and, as Deputy Bacik rightly identified, in departmental oversight of agencies. The responsible thing to do here is exactly what the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, proposed to Cabinet, namely establishing in the coming week an external review to get to the bottom of these matters and to report and for the Committee of Public Accounts and others to have an opportunity to examine this issue.
Sentiment score: 0.09
I accept the Deputy's passion on this matter. Perhaps I speak in a calmer tone than he does on occasion, but I ask that he please not misunderstand that. There is absolute fury on Government benches in respect of this situation. The people we represent - the people who voted for us and the mandates we have received - are extraordinarily annoyed about this matter. The Deputy is right. Almost €7 million of taxpayers' money that was given to the Arts Council has been wasted, with nothing to show for it. As deputy head of this Government, I am saying to the Deputy with absolute clarity that there will be consequences for that. We will establish what happened. We will have an external review and the Government will then decide how to act.
Sentiment score: 0.09
That is what a responsible Government does. A responsible Government also garners the facts. Let us do that. We do not need faux outrage. What we need are the facts. Gather the facts and then Government will make a proper determination when it has the information. That is what some of the Deputy's colleagues on the Opposition benches have rightly called for. We need to go through this by means of an external review. We will get to the bottom of this. Breaching the public sector spending code is not consequence free.
Sentiment score: 0.10