Die Kosten für die Umzäunung des Canal Grande waren mehr als dreimal so hoch wie die Angaben von Waterways Ireland gegenüber PAC

not one day goes by in ireland without taxpayer money being pissed down the drain with no hint of accountability. Its scandalous.

And it barely worked. Tents were in the fencing on a regular basis.

‘The Taoiseach’s department’s only role was to manage communications and press releases about the operation, the documents say.’

Completely originated from the Taoiseach’s office with pressure put on to do this and taking all the glory. Now it’s nothing to do with them that it was a waste of money and they had no right to leave it up.

I don’t mind people having to make hard decisions or making mistakes but I cannot abide bullshitters.

I brought up problems with the immigration department’s ability to accurately process documentation, the cost efficiency issues created by the very high error rates from those civil service workers and how in the private sector that type of error rate would have them all lose their jobs. The answer I received from a senior government compliance official (who asked for the meeting due to some complaints I made as a business) was… oh, well they are getting much better with the backlog so it should all be fine soon.

Absolutely no thought of accountability for government workers who are absolute shite at their jobs. No one in the government gives a fuck – they don’t want accountability and they know that politicians won’t drive the changes needed because it would also make the politicians have to be accountable.

I don’t live in Ireland anymore. What’s grand canal look like now? Is it back to normal?

We are not a serious country. One thing I’m very confident about Ireland is that we will always consistently squander large amounts of cash and have sweet fuck all to show for it.

The several scandals between BAM/CHI, cycle sheds and this was the type of thing we were mocking the UK over during Covid, yet here we are showing to be not really be any better, with a national broadcaster every bit as happy to try and push blame off elsewhere as the BBC were for Boris and Co. 

We all laughed as the Brits voted them right back in (until they eventually didn’t) in the years after Brexit, yet here we are set to do the exact same. 

This is what happens when you rely on the private sector for everything. The only ones who can afford to bid on these projects are already rich, and have no qualms about fucking over the Irish people. As a result, only unscrupulous bidders compete for the contracts, and when one wins, they fleece us, every damn time.

Public infrastructure at all levels, from small stuff like this to huge projects like the NCH, needs to be taken completely in house and under the control of a government agency like then do in other countries like Finland or Singapore. Train up a workforce for public construction and services, and have Ireland working for Ireland, not Ireland paying for substandard work with a 300% markup.