‘Bad governance’ is common thread in institutional failures

A common thread running through the litany of institutional failures at the CRC, Irish Water and the penalty points scandal was bad governance resulting in nobody being held responsible, according to public service expert Dr Eddie Molloy.

Speaking at the Reform Alliance’s debate on reform of the economy, he launched a scathing attack on the profession of auditors, accusing them of incompetence and escaping proper governance procedures “through the small print”.

To sustained applause Dr Molloy, from Change Management, claimed the Government had behaved exactly like their Fianna Fáil predecessors by appointing over 1,000 political associates to State boards.

“When you have boards with political associates you compromise the integrity of that board,” he said.

Successive governments, he said, had failed to give regulators the power of invasive scrutiny and they were now unable to carry out their regulatory functions.

Referring to the penalty points controversy, which returns to the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, he said: “Look what’s happened to the Garda Ombudsman Commission set up in the wake of the Morris Tribunal to provide effective oversight of the gardaí in the last few weeks you see how powerless it is.”

He warned the Reform Alliance that, unless it did something to change Ireland’s political culture, the crowds that turned up at the monster rally had done so under false pretences.

Referring to the Freedom of Information controversy, he said it was clear the “minimalist” answers from civil servants demonstrated they were more concerned about protecting the minister than the public interest.

“A current minister told me after 10 days in office that he was advised not to put something in writing because of the FoI, the public’s right to know is not being vindicated and it’s a major issue at the heart of our system of governance,” he said.

Dr Molloy said unless there was change, Ireland will rebuild its economy and lose it again to “political expediency, loyalty to colleagues and career self-advancement”.

He said IMF chief Christine Lagarde’s letter to the world political leaders at Davos claimed the boom and bust cycle would continue because the benefits of growth are being enjoyed by far too few people.

He said Ireland through good governance must tackle exclusion, poverty and inequality in society.