Calls to tackle overspending

A CABINET post of Minister for Public Expenditure should be established to tackle huge overspends in publicly funded projects, chairman of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee Michael Noonan said last night.

Mr Noonan said ministers must also take a direct role in watching day-to-day spending and be accountable to the Dáil.

He said the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) cannot fulfil the role of watchdog with regard to ongoing projects and their daily spending.

“The Public Accounts Committee looks at things in retrospect and assesses situations after a loss has been incurred.

“We carry out autopsies after the event but we need a Minister for Public Expenditure specifically charged with the job of blowing the whistle and calling ‘halt’ as soon as overspend or other problems arise in publicly funded projects.”

Mr Noonan accused ministers of not taking enough management positions with regard to spending in their departments. As a result, he said civil servants were being dumped on when something goes wrong.

The need for a Minister for Public Expenditure was borne out, he said, by the massive volume of correspondence he receives regarding public concern at the way taxpayers’ money is being mismanaged in different projects.

“A Minister for Public Expenditure could move quickly on a given situation. He could pick up the phone to the minister whose department has responsibility for a particular problem project and set out the information he has about it falling behind time or running over budget and demand answers as to what’s going on. By the time these matters come before the PAC the damage has been done,” Mr Noonan added.