Public sector reform - Culture of overruns must change

WE HAVE become so used to public projects running over budget and schedule that mismanagement of public projects has become accepted, almost as if this flagrance was a tacit levy for getting the job done at all.

Make-it-up-as-you-go-along project management seems to have established an unchallenged grip on our public sector business consciousness. Though why this is acceptable remains a mystery. Especially as the values — or lack of them — that these failures represent are completely at odds with the standards and energies that sustained the Celtic Tiger.

Accepting these poor performances is yet another manifestation of the growing disappointment and cynicism that characterises so many people’s relationship with their state.