Sir, – Your news report “Former OPW minister says he learned of bike shed cost in media” (October 4th) exposes, yet again, the deep flaws in the system of governance that defines the respective responsibilities and accountabilities of ministers and senior officials.
Patrick O’Donovan, former minister of State for the OPW, also says sanctioning the €1.4 million spent on a security hut had nothing to do with him. “I wasn’t responsible for it. I didn’t approve the money because that’s not the role of the minister of State”, he says.
That is true; it was not the former minister’s responsibility.
What was his responsibility at the time, however, and indeed the responsibility of his predecessors in that role and of the current Minister, has been the responsibility to notice and take effective action to address the recurring episodes of costly commercial mismanagement and extravagance in OPW property dealings over the past decade at least.
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Many of these cases entailed losses to the public purse of many millions of euro and were aired in the media, for example, with an RTÉ Prime Time programme exposing the scandals in 2021, several investigations by the Public Accounts Committee and audits by the Comptroller & Auditor General.
It seems that Mr O’Donovan apparently did nothing on his watch as Minister of State of the OPW to affect the fundamental change required to bring an end to these recurring costly fiascos.
So he cannot wash his hands entirely of responsibility for the bike shed and security hut farce. – Yours, etc,
EDDIE MOLLOY,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.