Crazy idea for Govt savings?

Sizzler

After watching the programme on TV3 last night about how the government literally blew billions over the last 10 years or so I got so annoyed I wondered what could be done...something that might actually make a difference!

Jim Power summed it up when he said that previously,currently and in the future he has no belief that the government will ever try and obtain value for money (the taxpayers money!).

Anyway, my idea is based upon this very fact, the government are spending millions on external consultants on various projects every year, by its very nature the civil service does not posssess any workers that have any commercial acumen (in the large part) / big business or industry experience and this was merely confirmed in back to back examples for one painful hour last night.

Therefore, surely a group of 100 or so professionals could put together an offering to the government to help them in specialist areas of procurement...as a starter for ten! These people could be employed or unemployed and could offer to take a nominal fee(if they so wished) safe in the knowledge they were helping the country in a time of need. There would obviously need to be a will on the governments part to empower them to review and execute change.

Another no brainer would be increasing people in areas like social welfare fraud, a recent review in border areas saved 300k. I would imagine one staff member could pay for themselves 3-4 times over, with ease.

Bit of a rant I know but its something I feel strongly about at the moment and the sheer visible wastage infuriates me :mad: List of ideas is by no means exhaustive but as much as anything maybe it will provoke some discussion

Dannyboy83

Don't the British Labour party have something similar to this?

Serco Group iirc?

Daftendirekt

What was the name of the program? Wouldn't mind checking it out.

Sizzler

Maybe the jobs thread might have been a better place to post

Surely there are auditors / procurement specialists / commercial managers out there who have experience from all types of industry that could really make a difference here!

kippy

Theres a big bad circle at work there though that gets very complicated when you delve deeper into it.
I aint condoning wasting money, quiet the opposite. However all that "wasted" money ended up providing employment, growth, more income tax euros etc etc etc.
Perhaps it is government policy to "waste" money in such a way as it eventually ends up back in state coffers again?
Granted, in leaner times that really shouldnt be happening but when you think about it the State is probably one of the biggest purchasers and tenants in the country, it should be able get the best prices possible but hasnt been doing that until recently.

ilovelamp2000

kippy wrote: »

Granted, in leaner times that really shouldnt be happening but when you think about it the State is probably one of the biggest purchasers and tenants in the country, it should be able get the best prices possible but hasnt been doing that until recently.

A half decent journalist could make a great story with a few simple FOI requests about Government departments leases on buildings.

I personally know of one example of an amazingly exorbitant lease on a property (it could have been bought about ten time over at this stage) that's being used by one department. The owner of the building is a pal of the Minister who was in charge at the time.

It's a pity there are very few decent journalists in this country.

jimmmy

Rosco1982 wrote: »

I personally know of one example of an amazingly exorbitant lease on a property (it could have been bought about ten time over at this stage) that's being used by one department. The owner of the building is a pal of the Minister who was in charge at the time.

I also know of instances where it is glaringly obvious that contracts / supplies etc were bought from "friends" of certain politicians and high ranking public servants. Billions of euro of goods and services were bought by the govt, and sometimes people in certain departments nearly asked for a backhander. Of course we all know the brown envelope thing went on. I foreign industrialist once told me the corruption in Ireland reminded him of a third world country.

Sizzler

Rosco1982 wrote: »

A half decent journalist could make a great story with a few simple FOI requests about Government departments leases on buildings.

I personally know of one example of an amazingly exorbitant lease on a property (it could have been bought about ten time over at this stage) that's being used by one department. The owner of the building is a pal of the Minister who was in charge at the time.

It's a pity there are very few decent journalists in this country.

You know what, you are bang on. Theres enough material there to make headlines every day till the end of the year and beyond, I dont neccessarily agree with there not being many decent journos, I think you should rephrase by saying there are very few (if any) who have the balls to dig the dirt on a consistent basis and get it to print. The taxpayer deserves to know!

I wish I actually knew a journo! I could rattle off at least 10 FOI requests I would love to see the results of :eek:

Liam Byrne

We are still talking about the Government that - having introduced the FOI Act, proceeded to charge for it to put people off availing of the "public service".

I_am_Jebus

Liam Byrne wrote: »

We are still talking about the Government that - having introduced the FOI Act, proceeded to charge for it to put people off availing of the "public service".

No, they charge for FOI requests to prevent wasters from just requesting documents on a whim or for the hell of it. You should see the amount of time it can take to process an FOI request. If it was free reign to just lob in requests FOC you'd be hiring 1,000s more people to deal with them.

And there are plenty of "public Services" that you have to pay a fee for.

I_am_Jebus

Sizzler wrote: »

You know what, you are bang on. Theres enough material there to make headlines every day till the end of the year and beyond, I dont neccessarily agree with there not being many decent journos, I think you should rephrase by saying there are very few (if any) who have the balls to dig the dirt on a consistent basis and get it to print. The taxpayer deserves to know!

I wish I actually knew a journo! I could rattle off at least 10 FOI requests I would love to see the results of :eek:

you don't have to be a journo to make an FOI request. if ya'd like to see the 10 or so requests, then apply under FOI to relevant Departmetn of interest to you.

Lu Tze

Sizzler wrote: »

Anyway, my idea is based upon this very fact, the government are spending millions on external consultants on various projects every year, by its very nature the civil service does not posssess any workers that have any commercial acumen (in the large part) / big business or industry experience and this was merely confirmed in back to back examples for one painful hour last night.

Its not that they don't have the expertise, the reason they get external consultants is they outsource the risk, if something is wrong with the work, they are not liable.

Peanut

Sizzler wrote: »

I wish I actually knew a journo! I could rattle off at least 10 FOI requests I would love to see the results of :eek:

Try emailing newsdesk@rte.ie or other broadcasters/newspapers.
http://www.rte.ie/news/contacts.html

Ideally, get a few other people to send in similar suggestions, with specific details included.

ilovelamp2000

I_am_Jebus wrote: »

No, they charge for FOI requests to prevent wasters from just requesting documents on a whim or for the hell of it. You should see the amount of time it can take to process an FOI request. If it was free reign to just lob in requests FOC you'd be hiring 1,000s more people to deal with them.

And there are plenty of "public Services" that you have to pay a fee for.

One newspaper was rumoured to have requested the records of google searches carried out by staff of a government department. Now that's a time wasting request if ever I've seeen one.

I personally think that they're missing the point.

rasper

Rosco1982 wrote: »

One newspaper was rumoured to have requested the records of google searches carried out by staff of a government department. Now that's a time wasting request if ever I've seeen one.

I personally think that they're missing the point.

May be relevant to some story, for example didn't immigration officials had to be warned against using Wikipedia to investigate asylum cases , so maybe google searches are relevant

Sizzler

I_am_Jebus wrote: »

you don't have to be a journo to make an FOI request. if ya'd like to see the 10 or so requests, then apply under FOI to relevant Departmetn of interest to you.

Cheers, Im on it now.