Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín TD has today lambasted the National Children’s Science Centre as a “monument to state incompetence,” following a bruising Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing that exposed 23 years of administrative paralysis and a 500% cost explosion.
Speaking following the conclusion of today’s PAC session, Deputy Tóibín said “What we have witnessed today at the PAC is the ‘fiasco factory’ nature of this administration. We are looking at a project that has been in a state of permanent gestation for 23 years. In that time, the cost has rocketed from €14 million to over €70.4 million, yet the only thing the taxpayer has bought so far is a €4.3 million mountain of legal bills, arbitration costs, and empty rooms.”
“It is an absolute scandal that while families struggle with the cost of living, the State is paying for ‘ghost offices’ in a building that has sat vacant since 2007. This follows a weary, predictable pattern of reckless spending—from the €336,000 Leinster House bike shed to the €1.4 million security hut. In any small business, if a manager ran a project like this, they would be out on their ear. In this government, they just get a bigger budget and a pat on the back.”
Deputy Tóibín continued “The outcome of today’s meeting confirms a total breakdown in governance. The OPW admits it signed a binding deal two decades ago without a sponsoring department even being identified. This has effectively trapped the Irish taxpayer in a legal vice where we are liable for millions whether a single brick is laid or not. This is ‘pass-the-parcel’ governance where no Minister will take responsibility, but every citizen is expected to foot the bill.
“As of today it is still not clear if the Government will grab this issue by the scruff of the neck and force a resolution. The fact that today was the first time the 3 central parties to the development of the centre, Fionn Jenkinson, Galavan, Conlon and the Department of Public Expenditure, have been in the same room shows the incredible hands-off natures of the Minister’s department.
