Ahern blamed for €35m research venture fiasco

THE Government wasted over €35 million of taxpayers’ money on a botched research venture, a Dáil committee has found.

The money simply “went down the tubes” because the Government’s handling of the project was so poor, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said. The PAC, which scrutinises State spending, said the Government had invested €35.5m in Media Lab Europe (MLE), yet had little control over the venture.

PAC chairman Fine Gael’s Michael Noonan said Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had to bear personal responsibility for the waste as his department had given the project the green light. Media Lab was a joint initiative between the Government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Founded in May 2000, it was meant to be “a centre of excellence in digital technologies”, but folded in January 2005.