93. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the total overruns in public infrastructural projects in each of the past five years. [15639/25]
Sentiment score: 0.00
The previous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments had a reputation for incinerating public money through wastefulness in public projects. We have numerous examples, from the Gucci bicycle shed to the WRC wall, to the national children's hospital, to the ventilators that never worked. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, does not have that reputation and I think he could bring change to the Department. What cost overruns does the Department know about that the Minister has not told the public about yet?
Sentiment score: 0.05
The process is clearly not working because we are coming down with cost overruns left, right and centre. One of the reasons for this is that the Government is allergic to accountability and has been for a long time. Even when answering a simple question here on the actual cost overruns over the past five years, this level of accountability is refused. The Minister has not even answered the question that was put on today's Questions Paper. Farmleigh House, for example, is another project we in Aontú have been researching. It was bought and refurbished for some €52 million. Over the past 24 years, it has received approximately 70 delegations that have stayed there. That is an average of three per year. Farmleigh House is empty for approximately 48 weeks a year. In the past ten years, only two delegations, on average, have visited annually. This means that it is costing some €750,000 per delegation. The house is empty for most of the year. This level of waste would not be acceptable in any other location in the country, yet it is allowed to happen under the Minister's watch.
Sentiment score: -0.09
Bureaucracy does not create accountability. Accountability is an issue that is created if there is a cost to an individual for making a mistake over and over again that costs the State. I very clearly asked what the total overruns in public infrastructure projects were. The accountability to the Dáil has not achieved an answer on that here and now. I also asked what overruns were happening in public projects at present that the public did not yet know about. It is important that we put this question in shining neon lights because the Department knows about cost overruns that it will not tell people about yet. That is a real problem for transparency and accountability. We have a situation where 100 Dublin Bus electric buses did not move an inch because somebody forgot to put in a planning application for a charger. We also have a situation where €300 million has been spent on metro north and not one shovel has been put into the ground. People at home are so frustrated with the fact that their hard-earned taxpayers' money is being incinerated and is not achieving the public infrastructure they so badly need.
Sentiment score: -0.09
It is true.
Sentiment score: 0.42
The buses did not move for 18 months.
Sentiment score: 0.00
No quibble with the public servants. It is the Government we have a quibble with.
Sentiment score: -0.15