Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Following on from what my colleague, Senator McCarthy, said a moment ago, it strikes me that there are so many things coming down the tracks at us from the new Administration in America that it is difficult to know what is going to lead to disaster and what might have a grain of positivity. One thing I am fascinated by, and I think many people in Ireland would be fascinated by, is the idea of a department of government efficiency. Certainly, in the United States it probably has the capacity, depending on how it operates, to do harm to good things but we are already seeing that serious misspending of public money has been exposed over there. When one thinks of recent controversies in Ireland around a shelter, a shed, a wall, an IT contract and most recently the conversation about a scanner in the Arts Council - or across the road, I should say - what all of those things have in common is that they are examples of Government waste and substantial waste at that. It is these stories that have people wondering why they elect politicians in the first place if they will not properly oversee the spending of taxpayers' money. When we have a Government back bench TD warning us that nobody likes new taxes but tough choices are coming, people wonder what is going on. Are we getting value for money? If one pauses to think about it, the questions multiply. Who is looking after the public's money? How can there be no answerability for vast overexpenditure? We all know civil servants are doing great work - or many are - but sometimes we wonder if people are at their desks enough doing the job they are paid to do. Are they reachable by citizens when necessary for services to which citizens are entitled? Is there a cosy consensus between elements in the permanent government and politicians or even between the permanent government and preferred contractors? We have no way of knowing unless whistleblowers come forward. We should welcome any whistleblowing action which exposes any cosy consensus underwritten by unsuspecting taxpayers.