State flaunts taxpayers’ money

THE time-worn adage ‘easy come, easy go’ springs to mind as politicians prepare to splash out millions on brand new chambers for the Dáil and Seanad.

Not content with giving the Oireachtas a costly face lift last year, they want to spend taxpayers’ money with a vengeance.

Many will see this as an exercise in self-aggrandisement. It would mean mothballing the existing chambers for ceremonial occasions and switching day-to-day business to new, expanded hi-tech debating forums.

The very thought will cause apoplexy among those who believe the number of TDs should be reduced drastically and the Seanad scrapped altogether. Doubtless, it will also rankle with the one-in-five taxpayers who have no idea what happens in either chamber.

In times of growing scepticism about politicians, surely it would be better to spend taxpayers’ money on hospitals, schools, youth facilities, garda stations, rape crisis centres....The list goes on.