Government Waste - How they're overseeing the misuse of our taxes

Originally published February 04th, 2008

Similar to the "Overcharging in Ireland " feature on the Value Ireland home page, which has been running now for nearly 4 years, Value Ireland has decided to put together a running total of known/declared/identified/confirmed money which has been (or is being) wasted by our government.

Like the overcharging and theft of money by major Irish companies from their customers, we all know it's going on, but no one really seems to be doing anything about it. The mainstream media will report the activities on a one-off basis, show horror and get all upset for a couple of days, and then move on.

It's only on Value Ireland that you can get an up to date listing of all the companies who've thieved money from their customers. Value Ireland would like to do something similar for how the government is wasting our own tax money. We vote these people into power on the basis that they’re supposed to look after our interests, and therefore use our money wisely. This isn’t happening, and we’re doing nothing about it.

Value Ireland will now introduce an ongoing analysis and reporting of all monies wasted by our government and its appointed agencies. For the moment, the best we can do for a start is to start reporting everything new as they come to our attention, and then will continue to update these numbers with historical incidences also.

We will be fairly stringent and consistent with regards to what we use to identify governmental money wasting. One of the key determinants will be the governments own watchdog - the Comptroller and Auditor General. Depending on information provided, we'll use other sources also - always though; these will be made obvious as to where the information has come from.

As time goes on, we'll try to provide a coherent analysis of all government waste and will do our very best to be as objective as possible.

Click here for our recent blog on this subject, and if you can, please follow up on our request for assistance in this project.

February 2008 – Irish Blood Transfusion Board – The Irish Blood Transfusion Board has confirmed it has abandoned plans to upgrade a computer system that monitors the progress of blood products, a move which has led it to write off in the region of €740,000 of taxpayers' money.

Please read our Legal Disclaimer by clicking here.