Welcome To The Department Of Public Waste

A Comedy of Errors (Except It’s Not Fiscally Funny)

If there’s one thing the governments across the globe and the civil servants excel at, it’s wasting taxpayers’ money. Government overspending and waste are always a hot topic, and in Ireland, taxpayers are increasingly vigilant about how their taxes are utilised. While public services and infrastructure investments are crucial for national growth, concerns have emerged in recent months about taxpayers’ money being wasted and inefficiencies within the various governmental departments around procurement processes.

Let’s start with the National Children’s Hospital, shall we? What began as a noble idea—building a world-class facility for sick kids—has turned into a financial dumpster fire. The original budget? €980 million. The current price tag? Over €2.2 billion. That’s not a cost overrun; that’s a financial black hole. At this rate, the hospital might as well come with a gold-plated roof and a butler for every patient. Meanwhile, the rest of the healthcare system is held together with …