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?
Sentiment score: -0.04
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.
Sentiment score: -0.14
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?
Sentiment score: 0.00
That is the problem; there is no accountability.
Sentiment score: -0.60
What about the bike shed?
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Minister has not mentioned the bike shed once.
Sentiment score: 0.00
What about the bike shed?
Sentiment score: 0.00
Answer my question please, with respect.
Sentiment score: 0.66
What about the bike shed? I have asked the Minister twice now. How can she defend that?
Sentiment score: 0.00