Public funds wasted - Tax spenders must be held accountable

The cavalier attitude of government departments and highly paid advisers towards public projects that involve the money of beleaguered taxpayers is mind boggling.

For the umpteenth time, this mind set comes under the glare of the spotlight in a damning Public Accounts Committee report previewed on today’s front page.

The latest in a depressingly long litany of botched public projects, a legacy characterised by the squandering of millions of euro on useless electronic voting machines, concerns the ill-fated “Bertie Bowl” — the misnamed and vainglorious National Campus and Stadium. Also under the microscope is a legal case involving the National Aquatic Centre, the only part of the stadium project to come to fruition, and itself the subject of considerable controversy.