Ppars:Earlier this month, the Health Service Executive finally gave up on Ppars, its computerised payroll and human resources system.
Originally intended to serve 17 agencies in the health system, it was expected to cost €9 million, but by late 2005, €130 million had been spent and Ppars was still only operating in three health service regions. There were also technical problems with the system; one employee in the northwest was paid ¤1 million in error. The HSE is now looking at a new computer system; we wish it luck with it.
Extension of medical cards to the over-70s:Politically popular but devastatingly costly, this proposal also ratcheted up pressure on the health services by giving all over-70s, regardless of means, access to services which were already in short supply. Originally costed at €9 million, it ended up costing €135 million a year.
National roads programme:Originally estimated to cost €5.6 billion, the upgrading of the State's road system is now costing more than €16 billion. The project, first announced in 1999, is also years behind schedule.
The National Roads Authority blamed inflation in the construction industry for the repeated increases in the estimated cost. However, the Comptroller & Auditor General, in his 2004 report, also referred to "a systematic failure to fully cost certain project elements".
E-voting:Let's all vote electronically, said the
government in 2000, and off it went to buy 1,800 voting
machines, even though there was considerable doubt
internationally about their safety. Much later, a specially
appointed commission deemed them unsuitable and €52 million
went down the drain. The machines stayed under wraps for the last
election and storage costs are running at more than €600,000
a year.
And so much more . . . Would anyone have gone ahead with the tribunals if we know how much they would cost? Estimates for the planning tribunal vary from €300 million to €1 billion. Then there's the Bertie Bowl, CIÉ's mini-CTC signal project, Punchestown, Thornton Hall prison site, Media Lab, Farmleigh, Kenmare marina, etc.