Aontú Senator Sarah O’Reilly has criticised Minister of State Kevin Boxer Moran for failing to answer key questions on accountability and oversight in the Office of Public Works amid growing public frustration over wasteful spending.
Speaking following her exchange with the Minister, Senator O’Reilly said people are increasingly losing confidence after a series of costly controversies involving public money.
“People see €20 million spent leasing buildings that are lying empty, over €300,000 spent on a bike shed in Leinster House and more than €4.2 million spent on a children’s science centre that was never even built. They are asking how this keeps happening and why nobody ever seems to be responsible.”
Senator O’Reilly said the biggest issue is the absence of clear accountability when projects go wrong.
“When projects run massively over budget or fail altogether, there never seems to be one identifiable person or project manager clearly responsible for decisions. Responsibility becomes completely blurred and that is a serious problem.”
The Senator questioned why transaction numbers attached to public payments are not directly linked back to project tenders and contract award notices so spending can be tracked from start to finish.
“My office has written directly to both the OPW and the Minister calling for transaction numbers to be linked to individual projects. If someone wants to see how much was spent on a particular project, whether it ran over budget and where the money went, that information should be easily available.”
She said Minister Boxer Moran failed to properly address questions on financial oversight structures or commit to introducing project linked transaction tracking.
“The Minister spoke about changes within the OPW since he was appointed, but he did not actually outline what those changes are. He also referred to cost benchmarking, but benchmarking on its own does not deliver accountability or proper oversight.”
Senator O’Reilly said there needs to be a cultural shift around responsibility for public spending.
“The cost of living is so high that ordinary workers and families have to account for every last cent when budgeting for their household spending. It’s not unreasonable to ask Government departments are held to the same standard when spending taxpayers’ money.”
