The latest OPW spending controversy further highlights the need for proper oversight of public projects and political accountability at ministerial level, according to Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be justifiable public anger at this further waste of public money by the OPW, with the cost of replacing a wall at the Workplace Relations Commission in Ballsbridge ballooning to almost \u20ac500,000 \u2013 more than twice the original estimate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile nobody could have foreseen some of the issues that arose in advance \u2013 such as the discovery of a live ESB cable and a leaking pipe \u2013 the OPW needs to explain how this project could end up costing such an eye-watering sum of money.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is extremely concerning that relatively straightforward issues can derail a project to such an extent – and leave the public on the hook for yet another massive OPW bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are worrying parallels here with other wasteful projects, such as the Leinster House bike shelter and extravagant security hut. This includes a complete lack of oversight \u2013 or any awareness of the runaway costs \u2013 by previous ministers with responsibility for the OPW.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo address this wanton waste of public money, the Social Democrats previously proposed establishing a Government Accountability Office (GAO) within the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis GAO would perform the role of a public spending watchdog in real-time; engage with senior civil servants and accounting officers in government departments on an ongoing basis to ensure the public spending code is adhered to; and report to the Public Accounts Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe OPW\u2019s cavalier approach to spending taxpayers’ money is not just financially ruinous \u2013 it is corrosive of public trust in politics and institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe incoming Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW must ensure there is full accountability, transparency and value for money \u2013 and have a far more hands-on approach to public projects than their predecessors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is vital that future projects are delivered on budget and on time \u2013 and that there are consequences for failure at the highest political level.\u201d<\/p>\n
January 29, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The latest OPW spending controversy further highlights the need for proper oversight of public projects and political accountability at ministerial level, according to Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon. \u201cThere will be justifiable public anger at this further waste of public money by the OPW, with the cost of replacing a wall at the Workplace Relations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,316,661,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accountability","category-gary-gannon","category-opw","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n