The government’s shambolic approach to public procurement, which haemorrhages billions from the state’s coffers, should be investigated by the Public Accounts Committee, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, who sits on PAC.
Deputy Farrelly said:
“It’s all well and good for the Public Expenditure Minister to slap his colleagues’ wrists for wasting public money when securing bad deals for the delivery of public services, but we won’t see that trend change unless this culture of overspending is properly addressed.
“Minister Chambers’ comments urging caution when it comes to departmental spending will not be sufficient to reduce the wasteful ways of public procurement.
“We need to investigate why so many infrastructural projects and developments cost over the odds – looking in from the outside, it’s as if the government accepts rip-off deals from contractors without making any attempt to negotiate better ones.
“The volume of evidence for this nonchalant approach is staggering – the National Children’s Hospital, National Maternity Hospital, Dublin’s Luas lines, Waterford City’s North Quay scheme and the Port Tunnel are just a few examples of projects that cost millions, sometimes billions, over their original estimates.
“In my own constituency of Kildare North, road projects cost €23.8 million over their original contract figure in 2021 – an increase of almost 40%.
“These flagrant abuses of our exchequer funds has become the norm – it’s difficult to remember when a major infrastructure project was delivered within its original budget.
“It’s an insult to hard-working people that their taxes are misused in this way – public trust in how the State spends money could hardly be lower after millions were spent on a bike shed and security hut that should have only cost thousands.
“Minister Chambers must refrain from tokenistic gestures like today’s warning to his colleagues and commit to a thorough investigation of why we lose these billions to bad deals.
“There’s no better place to ground this investigation than in the Public Accounts Committee – the government’s current approach to tenders is shambolic and must be addressed as soon as possible.
“I would like to see the Minister come before the committee for questions on this matter, and for the committee to develop a programme of cross-departmental scrutiny on this issue.”
24th June, 2025