Skip to main content

Ireland - What A Total Waste - It's A Scandal...

Pressure on Cowen as millions go to waste...

Millions of euro of taxpayers' money has been lost by state bodies and agencies, the report from spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) said.

In his first report, new C&AG John Buckley starkly uncovered the extent of the Government's failure to properly control its dwindling finances.

It was published as ministers prepare to slash public services in next month's budget, which has been brought forward by six weeks, in a bid to combat the deepening economic downturn.

The report revealed that the tax authorities had to make an embarrassing settlement of €1.7m to themselves for unpaid taxes, after failing to tax travel benefits awarded to their own staff. Mr Buckley's report exposed many of the same inadequacies as his predecessor, as he raised direct and specific concerns.

He identified:

"Shortcomings in the management of the State's financial resources".

"Questions as to the efficient use of public funds".

"Weaknesses and deficiencies in the procurement procedures and practices".

"Significant cost savings that could be generated".

The Health Service Executive (HSE) came in for the most stinging criticism of all, as it was lashed for being "fragmented, disjoined and difficult for patients to access".

The report said HSE management failed to act promptly on an overrun of €245m.
He also sharply criticised the managers for assuming they would be "bailed out" with extra funding.

"There was considerable delay in addressing the emerging deficit. In a number of instances where significant overruns were occurring, it could have been expected that specific action would have been taken but the review found no evidence that any such action was taken."

The Comptroller identified a plethora of areas where the taxpayer was being let down, including:

garda cars being bought but not used for a year.

councils building up over €1bn in levies.

border-duty bonuses being paid to soldiers, even after the peace process.

exorbitant management fees being paid on a savings scheme.

no competitive tendering in sections of the prisons service.

flood-relief scheme money not being spent for two years.

Despite Mr Cowen's promises to reform the public service, all of these incidents happened during his watch as Finance Minister.

Response
Mr Cowen's successor, Brian Lenihan, had no response to the highly critical report last night
. He instead referred it to the Dail Public Accounts Committee.

The Taoiseach himself also chose not to respond to the report's findings. However, his officials referred to the upcoming report on public-sector reform, which Mr Cowen says will outline actions to be taken.

The Opposition said the report pointed to the Government's continued failure to manage resources.

Labour deputy leader Joan Burton said Mr Lenihan should read the report, as it highlighted a number of areas for reform which "would undoubtedly lead to significant savings".

Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said many of the items related to wasted spending by state bodies, agencies and quangos.

"Fine Gael has already highlighted the problems associated with the explosion of quangos."

Report by By Fionnan Sheahan and Aine Kerr - Irish Independent

What a total waste - it's a scandal - no wonder the country is going down the tubes!

Popular posts from this blog

Property Crash Homes For Sale...

Hundreds of repossessed homes in Ireland to be sold by auction... UK property consultancy Allsop to hold auction in April at Dublin's Shelbourne hotel: Flats in Ireland that could have fetched €150,000 in the Celtic Tiger years are to be put on the market for as little as €25,000 (£21,000) in the country's first ever mass auction of repossessed homes. And, in a sign of how wide the property crash is, the latest item to turn up in liquidation sales in Dublin is a job lot of 15 cranes, including a pair towering over Anglo Irish Bank's half-built headquarters in the city's docklands. "Tower cranes were among the most sought-after heavy plant and machinery 10 years ago," Ricky Wilson of Wilsons Auctions says. "You couldn't buy them quick enough. Now they are left idle for two or three years on sites." He has 15 cranes worth €500,000 going on sale on 26 March, with German, Dutch and Polish buyers expressing interest. But it is the auction ...

Young, Irish And Out Of Here...

As the government continues to pump billions into our much discredited banking system, many Irish people unable to find work here are facing into a future outside of this country. John Downes, News Investigations Correspondent, spoke to some of the new Irish diaspora about their recent experiences of emigration... By any stretch of the imagination, they were a startling set of figures, prompting echoes of a past which we thought we had left behind. According to ESRI data released last week, we can expect net emigration of 60,000 in the year to this April – and a further 40,000 by April 2011. That's almost 1,000 of our best and brightest leaving every week. Yet the ESRI's predictions are simply the latest – if most stark – indications of a return to mass emigration among Ireland's unemployed, as the downturn has continued to take its toll. In September, for example, the Central Statistics Office revealed that Ireland witnessed a return to net emigration for the first time si...

More Allsop Fire Sales...

Allsop plans five fire sales a year... THE UK auction house Allsop and its Irish affiliate Space plans to hold up to five distressed property auctions a year following the success of its first auction last Friday when 81 out of 82 lots were sold for a total of €15 million. The next auction is scheduled for July 7th, when 200 lots will be auctioned, including apartments, tenanted shops, farms and houses. According to Space director Stephen McCarthy, his company is being inundated with requests from receivers, banks and individuals who want to sell their property fast. Many of the properties in Friday’s auction were sold by Bank of Scotland Ireland and it’s believe there is plenty more of this stock to sell. These include apartments in the Castleforbes development in the Dublin docklands, as well as units in Dublin 8 and in Castleknock. However, the agency is also considering taking on more agricultural land. One lot, a 55 acre farm in Co Wickow sold particularly well, making €42...