Seanad debates

Wednesday, 21 May 2003

Decentralisation Programme: Statements.

 

I have read a vast amount of correspondence between a third level institution, the identity of which Members can easily guess, and the building unit of the Department of Education and Science regarding a major building programme. I have no complaints about the quality of people in the Department of Education and Science, but – from reading the correspondence to which I refer, which encompasses a period of two to three years – it seems that its major contribution was to add 18% to the cost of the buildings. Whatever minuscule savings were made through the identification of little things with which it did not agree, the three-year delay meant that there was a price increase. What is the point in centralising authority to put together a mystique of expertise which is no greater than that of those who made the original decision? A huge amount of the excessive bureaucracy would be eliminated.

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