McDonald accuses Government of ‘litany of waste’ while tightening public purse

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has accused the Government of a “litany of waste” as she raised a “wildly excessive” cost of three-quarters of a million euro for 14 steps in a Dublin park.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin admitted that the cost was excessive as Ms McDonald called again for a waste audit to be done across government departments.

Ms McDonald said that the “spectacular” cost of 750,000 euros to construct 14 steps and a ramp at Deerpark in Mount Merrion was “downright insulting to people”.

“For 750,000 euros, I was expecting a breathtaking feat of engineering. But no, nothing spectacular here. In fact, it’s very, very ordinary – literally, just steps and a ramp.”

“You are serial wasters of public money. Hundreds of thousands for bike sheds, 1.4 million for a security hut, half a million for a perimeter wall, 20 million renting offices that lay empty, over 100,000 euros on a scanner for the National Gallery that lay idle for almost a decade.”

She accused the Government of “pouring millions of people’s money down the drain” while Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael “keep the strings of the public purse very, very tight”.

Mr Martin said the cost for 14 steps in a public park was “excessive by any yardstick”.

“I don’t believe 750,000 is right or proper in terms or appropriate in terms of 14 steps,” he said.

“I think Sinn Féin could take the example of Deputy Albert Dolan here in front of me, who has done more than most deputies in the house to shine a light on public expenditure with his online facility.”

Mr Dolan, a chartered accountant, set up an online tool to track spending by how funds are spent by almost 200 state agencies.

“Sinn Féin is very good at asking and asking, but surely you have a bit of resources yourself and capacity if you’re that concerned about waste.”

Referring to criticisms from the budgetary watchdog, which said the Government was “budgeting like there’s no tomorrow”, Mr Martin said, “We’re being criticised for overspending, and notwithstanding your desire that we spend billions more”.

“This has been a competent government in relation to the economic management of this country, and the policies we have pursued are far superior to anything you’ve produced on the economic front over the last number of years.

“We have no truck with any waste in public expenditure, and we will deal with it at every layer of government.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik raised the budgetary warning and said that former finance minister Paschal Donohoe had left behind “an overspend climbing towards four billion euro in 2025”.

“It seems that prudent Paschal was actually profligate Paschal.”

She added: “You’ve just said, Taoiseach, that you’re competent on the economy, but you don’t even have a fiscal plan beyond next year.”

Raising various costs across housing, healthcare workers and Budget 2026, she asked if the Government’s actions were “prudent”.

He said future fiscal rules should be relevant and said the 5 per cent spending cap in the last government “did not adequately reflect real economic growth and inflation growth”.