Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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7. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way in which the incorrectly spelled new sign outside his Department came to be put in place; the total cost of the sign; the estimated cost for the removal and a replacement sign; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60171/25]

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask the Minister about the way in which the incorrectly spelled new sign outside his Department came to be put in place, what the total cost of the sign was and the estimated cost for its removal and replacement. I hope the cost is at the lower end. Nobody has made more mistakes than me, and I know a printer who often said, “I print what I am given”, but we would need to see checks and balances. We do not want to see issues like this arise in the future.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Following the change of name of my Department upon the formation of the Government, a procurement process was undertaken to replace the Department’s signage at the Government Buildings complex. After the new signage had been installed, it was noted that one word had been misspelt. The external supplier of the signage confirmed that it made this error when producing it and has replaced the signage at no additional cost.

The Department of Finance undertook the procurement on behalf of my Department in the context of shared facilities services between the two Departments. While we have not yet received an invoice, the quoted price for the original design, manufacture and installation of the external signage at the entrances was €8,460, excluding VAT. I highlight again that there was no additional cost associated with rectifying the supplier’s error.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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It cost €8,460 but there was no added cost because the mistake was at the supplier’s end. I suppose that answers the question.

Obviously, there are wider questions on Government spending. These questions, concerning bike sheds, IT systems and the Revenue bill in the Minister’s Department, have almost been done to death here. We must spend public money wisely and have more checks and balances than existed in the past.

I am very glad nobody in the Department was responsible for the signage error. I would not like to have been responsible myself. Obviously, we are talking about something that is costly. I can work on the basis that the Minister sent the printer the correct name and it printed it incorrectly. It was rather costly for it. Could the Minister speak about the due diligence needed to ensure less public waste than we have seen previously?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I have set out the position. Very few Ministers are directly sending items for procurement or are directly involved in the procurement process. When this emerged, the facts were established. The signage is being replaced at no additional cost. Ensuring value for money and financial management are critical in all elements of public expenditure management.

At a wider level, we are reviewing public financial procedures to strengthen accountability and fiscal discipline across government when it comes to the medium-term fiscal and structural plans. Public servants take this very seriously. To give balance to much of what is said here, there are many good projects delivered by people who believe in our public service and do deliver, in many cases on budget and on time, across many sectors in our economy. It is important to balance that with the concerns the Deputy has raised over the need to deliver quicker. A bigger part of the infrastructure conversation is the need to address risk aversion in decision-making, whereby we have lists but not delivery. Better risk appetite regarding capital infrastructure will be a part of the reforms we will have to introduce.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I hope it was not ominous that it was "Infrastructure" that was spelt incorrectly. I think it was missing an "r".

I welcome what the Minister has said. There are many public servants doing really good work. Generally, what we are asking in here is that public procurement and planning work better and in a more streamlined way so we can see the delivery of more projects. I accept that checks and balances can sometimes slow things. We have heard what was said by Mr. Collison and others and we need a balance between having checks and balances and being able to deliver quickly.

Sometimes when going through public procurement, suppliers take into account who is paying, and that needs to be pushed back on. Again, however, it is a matter of streamlining and ensuring everything happens fast, because we know the issues that exist, particularly regarding electricity, water and other major infrastructural projects that need to be completed.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The relevant Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, is doing extensive work on procurement reform. She has led extensive engagement across the country with SMEs and businesses on how we can have better engagement in the tendering process to have more competition and participation by SMEs. There are reforms happening at EU level as part of that too. All elements of streamlining are our focus so as to deliver infrastructure better across our economy and also provide value for citizens regarding what is delivered. The Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, is advancing procurement reforms, which we hope to publish by the end of the year.