Brian Cowen accused of wasting tax-payers money

Fine Gael's Richard Bruton has accused the Minister for Finance of "singing dumb" over increased spending by the Government.

He said Brian Cowen loudly berates the ESRI for suggesting the Government will engage in a pre-election spending binge but was silent when his Government increased spending by 48% in the two years before the last election.

Richard Bruton claims the minister and his colleagues are squandering millions of euro of tax-payers money.

He said: “The Minister has been like a trapist monk. They have robust systems to protect against waste. But where were they when the P-Power computing system was decided on? When Punchestown was deciding on? E-voting, media labs?

"All projects that massively wasted money, simply because ministers' egos were driving them forward against all proper procedure."