The government\u2019s shambolic approach to public procurement, which haemorrhages billions from the state\u2019s coffers, should be investigated by the Public Accounts Committee, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, who sits on PAC.<\/p>\n
Deputy Farrelly said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all well and good for the Public Expenditure Minister to slap his colleagues\u2019 wrists for wasting public money when securing bad deals for the delivery of public services, but we won\u2019t see that trend change unless this culture of overspending is properly addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinister Chambers\u2019 comments urging caution when it comes to departmental spending will not be sufficient to reduce the wasteful ways of public procurement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to investigate why so many infrastructural projects and developments cost over the odds – looking in from the outside, it\u2019s as if the government accepts rip-off deals from contractors without making any attempt to negotiate better ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe volume of evidence for this nonchalant approach is staggering – the National Children\u2019s Hospital, National Maternity Hospital, Dublin\u2019s Luas lines, Waterford City\u2019s North Quay scheme and the Port Tunnel are just a few examples of projects that cost millions, sometimes billions, over their original estimates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my own constituency of Kildare North, road projects cost \u20ac23.8 million over their original contract figure in 2021 – an increase of almost 40%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese flagrant abuses of our exchequer funds has become the norm – it\u2019s difficult to remember when a major infrastructure project was delivered within its original budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinister Chambers must refrain from tokenistic gestures like today\u2019s warning to his colleagues and commit to a thorough investigation of why we lose these billions to bad deals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no better place to ground this investigation than in the Public Accounts Committee – the government\u2019s current approach to tenders is shambolic and must be addressed as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
24th June, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government\u2019s shambolic approach to public procurement, which haemorrhages billions from the state\u2019s coffers, should be investigated by the Public Accounts Committee, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, who sits on PAC. Deputy Farrelly said: \u201cIt\u2019s all well and good for the Public Expenditure Minister to slap his colleagues\u2019 wrists for wasting public money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,396,692,7,660],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accountability","category-aidan-farrelly","category-pac","category-press-release","category-public-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n