Dáil debates

Wednesday, 4 October 2006

 

Public Expenditure: Motion (Resumed).

7:00 pm

Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General provides a catalogue of the worst examples of financial mismanagement and the squandering of taxpayers' money. Given that there were similar reports in 2003 and 2004, it is not that we had a bad year in 2005 and I do not doubt the same story will be told in respect of 2006. If similar situations arose in the private sector, we would not be returning the following year to find out whether anything had changed. What has happened to the people who squandered millions of euro? Did they get a pat on the back or a bonus?

Does anybody believe the Comptroller and Auditor General has got to the bottom of every incident of wasted public money? I doubt it. We are only at the tip of the iceberg on these matters. Some public servants merely stand back and observe the daily waste of money because there is no incentive for them to do anything about it. However, if we were to offer them a percentage of the potential savings, they would step up to the mark. At present, they believe they would only be banging their heads against a wall were they to point out the ways in which money could be saved. Despite the waste that occurred in the health sector, large bonuses continue to be paid. We should take account of the situation obtaining in the private sector.

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