Minister defends Fine Gael’s oversight of spending and toilet upgrade costs of over €825,000

Fine Gael can be trusted to spend public money responsibly, Peter Burke has said. The Minister for Enterprise and Employment was speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme as it was reported a “provision of welfare and changing facilities” project, that included an upgrade to toilet and shower facilities for staff and visitors at the Department of Foreign Affairs headquarters on St Stephen’s Green, had cost just over €825,000.

The project was reported to have included some roof repair and ventilation improvements as well as the upgrades to toilet and shower facilities. Ensuring the work did not impact negatively on the structure or character of Iveagh House made the project more expensive, the department said.

The scale of the spend was cited by Independent Ireland TD Michael Fitzmaurice, however, as another example of careless spending and a lack of the necessary accountability among officials.

Asked if the Government took responsibility for spending on projects such as the Dáil bike shed and security hut at Government Buildings, estimated to have cost more than €300,000 and €1.3 million respectively, Mr Burke said “absolutely, the Government always takes responsibility but in the main we are delivering transformational infrastructure for the nation”.

“The point I would make is, we have a budget of €165 billion that we are spending on capital projects. I can say that it is outrageous with some of those smaller ones that you have referenced. But I can counter and really say to people that, on balance, if you look at where we’ve come from with the supply chain challenges through Covid, there are so many projects like the National Rehabilitation Hospital that came in on budget,” he said.

“On balance, the lion’s share is being managed well, but there are frustrations, and we have really put the processes in place to ensure that that won’t happen again, with a value-for-money review on projects under half a million euro through the OPW. So we are changing the dial.”

Speaking on the same programme, however, Mr Fitzmaurice cited the reports in relation to the Department of Foreign Affairs project as the latest example of uncontrolled spending by the current Government.

“Look at health,” he said. “Look at the children’s hospital. Look at the OPW this morning, we have it reported that toilets cost €825,000 in the Department of Foreign Affairs; we have seen the likes of the bike shed.

“It’s like an ordinary person winning the lotto, going out and thinking that they’ll never run out of money. At the moment, in every department in this country, we have serious waste.

“If you look at the OPW, if you look at all the different departments, if you look at even the likes of Irish Water, the waste in this country would actually run a smaller country.”