Albert Dolan

Who said it?

Albert Dolan.

Yeah, well, I-

Along with other Fianna Fáil TDs in a statement last September or April.

I'll, I'll go through one by one in the panel.

Al-Albert, what did you make of it all?

Uh, you know, I, I, I think you're absolutely right.

There was a lot of public support there today, a lot of hooting of cars and, uh, a lot of beeping.

Sure, Cormac, you know that.

Like, if I was to come in here and, and, and give an exact figure of what it should be, but it should be, well, we, look at, we can work it.

But see, you're critical of Albert Dolan.

Yes, I am.

I, I have an issue, obviously, with, because I'm in the private sector, because we're all in the private sector, you kinda look at everything, you know, if I go now for dinner, what did I get for that? And exactly as you said, we have no idea where the majority of our tax is going, what's it being spent on.

I think Albert Dolan, Elaine, is coming out with a, a new kinda website that's gonna showcase everything.

But Nick is dead right.

I mean, how can one council get it, we'll say, right, another council can be a million miles off the mark? There seems to be no kind of standard there.

It's amazing how we found another 14 million to increase for foreign aid.

Insanity, but we can't find money to help people that need helping.

My issue is, is that we need to see, and I hope, Albert, Nick, you know more about this than I would, Albert Dolan's new website that's coming out, I hope it'll show where every single cent that comes into the government, where it goes.

Because once we start seeing that, we will see the huge wastage that's going on out there.

On our Galway Thoughts panel, we look back at the budget.

Did the government get it right with Albert Dolan and Louie O'Hara? And we look ahead to the weekend in sport.

All that and a lot more coming up between now and 12 on Galway Talks.

If you've got a text or WhatsApp question or comment, get them into us now on 086 38 335 53.

There is a record number of guards now in the commission to confirm that at the Public Accounts Committee, but you're quite right.

We must ensure, and I have to say many rural TDs at our parliamentary party meeting make that case repeatedly.

Deputy Albert Dolan would be one of those deputies who does that.

And, you know, we are all the time fighting for resources for rural areas.

Um, I know Zor- Zohran Mamdani, the, the mayor of New York City, is doing this too.

He's talking about cutting spending, and how do we do this in the public sector? What does it look like? You've seen Albert Dolan closer to home, the, the youngest TD in the Dáil, I think, um, has, like, um, been doing really good work about tracking public, uh, spending and what it looks like.

And it, like, it's so unsexy.

Like, I'm saying this, and I can hear the words, and I know it's unsexy.

But I think the biggest action that the government has taken isn't coming from ministers at all.

It's what Albert Dolan's been doing on the state spending, uh, website.

So I think the focus has to be on government spending and getting, uh, getting that better value for money.

Aisling, what will the point of attack be for the opposition parties?

They keep an eye on exactly how carefully the state husbands the resources, the taxes paid by you, the listener out there.

And so has government got insufficient controls on the spending and lost control of the public purse strings? Well, we're joined now by Albert Dolan, Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East.

He's a member of the Public Accounts Committee where the Control and Auditor General Report is examined.

And also we're joined by Paul Lawless, A2 TD for Mayo.

If you don't want to answer that question, that's fine.

We'll move on.

£4 million in grants for electric vehicles, Albert Dolan, overpaid to 15 car dealerships.

And not recouped.