Public Spending in Ireland is out of control

Waste, waste and more waste of public funds

The disregard for the taxpayer knows no bounds. Yesterday (30th September), we learned that modular homes for people in temporary protection would cost €442,000 per unit. These units were initially expected to cost €200,000 per unit. Considering that the average cost of a house in County Galway is €301,000, this is just another in a long line of examples of the coalition government having no regard for prudent public expenditure.

The FF / FG / Green coalition’s priorities seem to be completely skewed – they are more interested in gearing themselves up for an election than doing their job. Self-preservation matters more than the needs of the country. They have taken their eye completely off the ball when it comes to public expenditure and developers are having an absolute field day!

In just the last number of weeks we have learned of:

A bike shelter that doesn’t even shelter bikes from the rain has cost the taxpayer €336,000. A cost-effective alternative that would have actually kept bikes dry was also rejected. We can only wonder why?
A security hut at the entrance to government buildings costs €1.4m with design alone – essentially a drawing of a box – costing almost €100k.
Now modular homes – essentially fancy prefabs – are costing the taxpayer 1.4 times the cost of a house in County Galway.
Let’s not forget the infamous printer at Dail Eireann that cost €2 million and then couldn’t fit in the room.
And then there’s the biggest calamity of them all – the Children’s Hospital – which was to be completed in 2019 at a cost of €650m. It now will cost in excess of €2.4bn and it is FIVE years late.

What will it be next? This slow dripfeed of absolutely scandalous waste of public funds is the torturous reality of how our country is run.

Meanwhile the sitting government are more interested in strategising the best time to call a General Election – when best serves their interests? The interests of the public – the real people in power – are not even up for consideration.

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Waste, waste and more waste of public funds

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