The two main opposition parties today attacked the Government over wasting public money and said they would reform the process of estimating the cost of public projects.
Both Fine Gael and Labour said if elected they would sack ministers who wasted public money and would put in place targets for ministers who would be held accountable if those targets were not met.
Richard Bruton TD
Fine Gael Finance spokesperson Richard Bruton said: " Money poured into this Government and it was spent without any reform of spending. That overspending kicked off 'Rip-Off Ireland".
Mr Bruton said Fine Gael planned to bring forward the budgetary estimates process to allow more scrutiny by the houses of the Oireachtas.
The party also proposes to have 50 per cent more sitting days in the Dáil and shorter recesses and also to allow answers to parliamentary questions provided by agencies or boards - such as the Health Service Executive (HSE) - to be put on the Dáil record.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte also attacked the Government for wasting money on projects like the new prison at Thorntan Hall, the Dublin Port Tunnel, Media Lab Europe and E-voting.
Mr Rabbitte said Labour would introduce an estimates commissioner to aid and guide the estimating of public project costs before those estimates were agreed upon.
He also said ministers would be sacked for incompetence from a Fine Gael/Labour government and added the decision of Fianna Fail to hide certain minister from public view during the election campaign "was an acceptance of their incompetence".
Mr Rabbitte said the scale of "waste and profligacy by the Government was astounding".
"People are now used to living in an affluent country. They wonder why so many things in this country don't work. They wonder why the Government doesn't work when they work so hard themselves," added Mr Rabbitte.