Public ignorant of Rehab accounts

Taxpayers have been informed for the first time that they are providing €80m to €90m of Rehab’s total annual funding. To put the scale and sacrifice associated with this State expenditure in context, an annual cut of €60m on special needs assistants in primary schools was prescribed by An Bord Snip Nua in 2009.

But taxpayers and private donors in Ireland, and in the other jurisdictions in which Rehab operates, have never been presented with detailed, audited accounts based on best practice, key performance indicators, and operational outcomes supported by relevant data.

It is as if Rehab functions within an exotic, private feudal enclave of its own creation, answerable to nobody. Why are the public being treated in such a cavalier and off-hand manner, and why did the State tolerate this?