Call to extend powers of Comptroller and Auditor General in public projects - McGuinness

The country now faces the biggest scandal the country has seen for a long time, in that the estimated cost of the construction of the children's hospital has moved from €600 million to €1.7 billion, and no one can guarantee that that figure will be the final cost, Fianna Fáil Deputy John McGuinness told the Dáil.
“It may increase to €2 billion,” he said. “In regard to the works being undertaken on this House, we were told today at the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach by the Chairman of and the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, OPW, that the cost of this work is estimated to be €15 million, that there is likely to be an overrun but that they could not tell us by how much it would overrun.”
Speaking during a debate on a Fianna Fáil Bill which would allow the Comptroller and Auditor General to automatically investigate overruns, he said the OPW has to claw back €3 million in the context of the money that has to be recouped due to the overrun on the national children’s hospital.
“They have to deal with an overspend in regard to the work on Leinster House but they could not tell us what schemes or projects would be affected by the clawback, except to say generally that the €3 million would be taken out of the flood relief schemes. That is shocking.
“We have often questioned the methodology behind the procurement process,” he said.
“We have flagged the fact that this process is working against the SMEs in this country,” he continued.
“It is not giving them a fair shake. Have we not learned from Carillion? Have we not learned from all of the other issues that have dogged Government over a long number of years in regard to overspend and poor value for money?
“When what can be done for the future is articulated here, the single thing the Government will not do for some reason is increase the powers of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
“If the Government has confidence in that office, it should accept this Bill and the other suggestions that have been made,” he said.
“It should include local government and send a clear signal to the taxpayer that we will no longer accept overruns and poor value for money and that our business will mean that what gets counted gets done.
“If the Government were to live by that rule, as a normal business would, we might see far less of the carry-on we are experiencing with the national children’s hospital, the Leinster House project and many other projects that go unscrutinised in this State.”