How Woodrow Wilson and C.E. Trevelyan are to Blame for the Leinster House Bike Shed – and what to do about it
Perhaps one of the most striking recent instances of the mismanagement of public moneys is that of the Leinster House bike shed. For those of you who don’t remember the details the Office of Public Works (OPW) spent a whopping €336,000 of public money on a bike shelter to be situated outside Leinster House. This bike shelter did not double as house, music venue, nor death star, as one may reasonably expect considering its price tag. It didn’t even have walls. An external audit found that value-for-money assessments were not carried out. Duh. Despite the scandal of the total absence of common sense in the spending of taxpayers’ money there remains a deficit of accountability. The Junior Minister responsible for the OPW at the time, Patrick O’Donovan, washed his hands of responsibility saying, “I wasn’t responsible for it.” He added soporifically, “ I didn’t approve money for it because that’s not the role of the Minister of State for the Office of Public Works. The accoun...