The Dáil will this week debate a Labour Party motion deploring wasteful Government spending and calling for the setting up of an Oireachtas body to assess and supervise major spending projects.
The motion condemns the growth in the cost of the national roads programme from €7 billion to €16 billion, the purchase of a €30 million site for a new prison which may prove unsuitable and the acquisition over a number of years of buildings to house asylum seekers which were never used and which remain empty. Other projects listed in the motion as involving "a total waste of money or massive overruns" include Abbotstown, the Punchestown Equestrian Centre, e-voting, the failure to cost properly the extension of the medical cards to the over-70s, and the indemnity deal agreed with the religious orders.
The Labour Party spokeswoman on Finance, Deputy Joan Burton, said there was "a whole series of projects where public money was either totally wasted or where costs had been allowed to escalate way above the estimates. The roads programme is the most stark example of this.
"There seems almost to be an attitude among this Government that because there is plenty of funds in the Exchequer coffers that waste or overspending does not really matter. The reality, of course, is that every euro wasted means a euro less for other capital projects or for essential public services. According to the Public Accounts Committee the overspend on roads amounts to around €9 billion."
She said the Dáil must play a far more active role in the monitoring and supervision of public spending. "The Public Accounts Committee does a fine job, but their role is really one of carrying out a financial postmortem after the money has been spent."
She said Labour was looking for an office of management and budget, "to assist the House in the assessment of proposals for major public expenditure".