What a joke! €336,000 to construct a bicycle shed. A very special shed for the TDs who are supposed to run the country.
They could only get the best – Irish granite and a ‘glazed canopy’.
How do our leaders react when a scandal breaks? The PR Taoiseach Simon Harris promises ‘a full review’.
But despite all the talk of ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’, The Office of Public Works refuses to provide the ‘scoping documents’ that commissioned the shed.
It is a neat trick. You look like you are angry – but then a state agency covers your ass by refusing to provide information on how exactly costs mounted.
Behind this absurd story lies a deeper truth.
Businesses has been ripping off the public purse for years. Think only of the National Children’s Hospital, set to become the dearest hospital ever built in the world.
Every capitalist knows that a state contract guarantees risk free profit. That is why many state jobs have ‘cost over-runs’.
Next time you hear them giving out about people on social welfare, remember that corporate welfare is where the real ripoff lies.
