Outgoing TD and Independent Candidate for Tipperary South, Mattie McGrath, condemns the government’s gross mismanagement and irresponsible use of taxpayer funds, highlighting a pattern of wasteful spending and broken promises.
Speaking from his canvass trail in Clonmel this morning, McGrath stated:
“Over the last five years, government waste has ballooned, with almost every project now well over budget and behind schedule. The gross mismanagement of public funds and infrastructural projects is deeply damaging.”
McGrath highlighted several instances of government overspending, including:
- The Department of Foreign Affairs, under Michael Martin, spending more than €825,000 on an OPW-led project to refurbish toilets at their headquarters.
“It seems the Tánaiste believes in flushing taxpayer money down the drain – literally,” McGrath quipped.
- Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) paying €514,000 for two reports for the Metro project from an accounting firm, yielding no more than 33 pages of written text so far.
“This equates to an exorbitant cost of over €15,000 per page, underscoring yet another egregious waste of taxpayer money and raising serious questions about the recklessness at the heart of the outgoing government,” McGrath noted. “While Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have allowed the price tag for the National Children’s Hospital to balloon from €600 million to €2.5 billion and counting, with timelines continually slipping, they are also permitting consultants to exploit taxpayer funds as if it were a bottomless pit.”
McGrath emphasized that such overspending is contributing to mounting price pressures, adding over €1,000 a year to a typical household’s bills, according to a damning September report by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac).
“This government’s reckless spending is a slap in the face to hardworking Irish families struggling with record cost of living pressures,” McGrath stated. “While ministers waste hundreds of millions on unnecessary projects, they make grand promises during their campaign that amount to nothing more than empty words.”
McGrath also drew attention to the escalating costs of the modular housing project for Ukrainian refugees. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) report revealed that the average cost of delivering each modular home has soared to €442,000 – more than double the original estimate of €200,000 per unit.
“We must remember these modular homes are being built on state-owned land, so there is no cost for the land itself. It is astonishing to me and illustrates the sheer contempt they have for taxpayer funds. They throw it around like monopoly money, and there is no accountability – it must stop, it’s as simple as that.”
McGrath concluded: “This government cannot continue to pour money into mismanaged projects while the public suffers. Their promises of future benefits are nothing more than hollow assurances. It’s time for real accountability and prudent management of public funds.”
