asked the Minister for Finance (a) the reason it was deemed necessary to lay new blue carpeting in hallways and passages in Leinster House not formerly carpeted; (b) whether any overtime hours were worked in laying the carpet and, if so, the reason the work required such expedition; and (c) what the carpeting and the laying of it cost the State.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Leinster House Carpets.
5.
(Clare): (a) Maintenance and improvement works are programmed for Leinster House every year and are usually carried out during the Dáil recess, particularly the summer recess. Because of the impending visits of foreign dignitaries to the House some of the improvement works, including the provision of carpets, were brought forward and carried out towards the end of May at the request of the Leinster House authorities. (b) Overtime was worked in laying the carpets. It is customary to lay carpets in Leinster House outside normal sitting times to minimise the inconvenience to Oireachtas Members and Staff. (c) Supply and laying of the carpets cost £8,076.
Well, now, Sir, may I just say this in brackets before I start, this is a small matter but a significant one. Would you allow me, Sir, to start by reminding the Minister of State of my rough translation of an old German proverb: he who despises the penny is not fit to be trusted with the pound. Could I ask the Minister of State this: if these carpets are normally laid in vacation, where is the necessity for overtime when, during vacation, there is an almost total absence of Deputies and Senators from the House and, when they are there, they can well be asked to step over a roll of carpet or to go by a slightly circuitous route of a couple of feet when walking along a corridor, as everybody in this Chamber frequently has been doing anyway?
(Clare): I did say in my reply that they were laid in May which was not in a period of recess. Overtime was required at that time in order to get the work completed in time for the visit of foreign dignitaries. Let me add also that it was done at the request of the Leinster House authorities.
Could I ask the Minister of State whether the foreign dignitaries to whom he refers were simply some of our sundered kith and kin, representatives of the American House of Representatives and Senate led by their Chairman, Mr. Tip O'Neill? Are not these the digitaries for whom overtime had to be worked in putting down a bit of blue carpet?
(Clare): They were dignitaries but we also had a visit to the House, at least the Ceann Comhairle had a visit, from the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg.
The Minister of State is not telling us that we are going to fire down blue carpet for a three-quarters of an hour visit of a grand duke and duchess? Is the Minister fo State serious about this?
(Clare): I am serious when I say we were requested to do it.
This is more of Operation Lace Curtain. What was wrong with the clean lino which was there, with which because the colour scheme, the present royal blue carpet, royal no doubt attributable to the Grand Duke and Duchess, offers such a very unpleasing aesthetic contrast? Have we gone mad altogether, that we can fire out £8,000 for this exercise which has not even been done properly, because this carpeting, is of a kind — in so far as my skill in such matters is concerned — that would lead me to believe it is intended for wall to wall laying and is already beginning to fray along the edges where people walk on it? What was wrong with the old lino, or have we taken leave of our senses altogether? Sir, I know it is a small matter but it is a symbol of what has overtaken this State.
Deputy, I am afraid I must take the blame, not the Minister.
Well, Sir, I would not be so boorish as to say anything intending to impute blame on you. but I would suggest to you that it is high time we had in these Houses a committee, what might be called somewhere else a house committee, because the only such committee between the two Houses in this building is that dealing with the bar and restaurant, I think it is called the Joint Refreshment Committee or something of the kind. It is high time we had a committee to work hand in hand with the Office of Public Works to make sure that we do not get any extravagance, that we do not get any essays into the ugly, ostentatious or inappropriate, and that Members know why money is being spent in their name on a building they have to inhabit?
I do not often pass comment but the condition of the place was not very good. Indeed a number of Deputies brought it to my attention. It is a place for which I have responsibility and it was not a place one would be pleased to have some dignitaries visit. It was in a bad state of repair.
Would it not have been better to have dignitaries walk on clean lino than on royal blue carpeting which shows up every mark as a dusty foot walks across it?
I know, a Cheann Comhairle, you will also look at the places where the Grand Duke did not visit.
Have you inspected the arrangements in Luxembourg, Sir? I can tell the House they would be very very slow to spend £8,000 on new carpeting for a visit by anybody from this country and I know the Luxembourgers?
Might I ask a question that might be expected of me to ask, coming from the constituency that I do? I take it that these carpets were all Irish-made?
(Clare): Munster Carpets. In this House also we have Navan and Donegal carpets.
I understood they were not purchased but taken from somewhere else.
(Clare): They were purchased.
In that case we will have to know where they came from. We will have to put a question down about what is being done to cover the bare space they left behind. I know it is all a bit of a joke, but it is a small symbol of what has gone wrong with this State and the people who run it.
I do not think any Deputy looks upon this as a joke.
It is no joke, but a small symbol of what is happening in the State.