THE COST OF government agencies is spiralling out of control, an independent TD says.
Fine Gael had pledged to merge or abolish 145 quangos. Despite an announcement at the start of 2012 that this would be done with 48 quangos, the process has been completed with just 45 to date with 63 still in the process of rationalisation.
Mattie McGrath says that a report that the number of quangos had increased since the coalitions election “is a clear indicator that it is treating the ordinary people with contempt”.
Today’s Irish Times reports that only 45 quangos have been abolished or are due to be abolished while another 33 new bodies have been created since the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition entered office.
The size of those agencies established was a concern, said McGrath, with sizeable ones like the Insolvency Service of Ireland and Uisce Eireann likely to offset the savings of a number of smaller quangos.
“These statistics concerning the Government’s ‘rationalisation programme’ are a valuable insight in to the real level of commitment that exists at the heart of this Government in terms of curbing exorbitant and wasteful spending of public money.
“Even a brief examination of the new Quangos that have been set up will reveal to the ordinary person that the savings that have been made from the abolition of some of the old Quangos is far exceeded by the costs associated with the establishment of Irish Water or the new Insolvency Service of Ireland.”
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