Premature commitments to capital projects are becoming a feature of Irish national politics, testament to the pre-election temptations for politicians and despite the record of capital cost over-shoots.

The record dates back at least to the late 1970s when the excess cost of the Nítrigin Éireann fertiliser plant in Cork caused huge controversy, a lengthy Oireachtas inquiry and the introduction of the Public Spending Code.

This initiative by the Department of Finance was intended to eliminate huge over-shoots and deliver value for money in the capital programme but the code has been regarded as a hindrance by politicians and lobby groups.

The latest mega-scheme, announced by Minister Eamon Ryan last week, is for a 32-county rail investment costing up to €40bn, easily the biggest transport plan ever conceived here.

No independent study of costs and benefits has been attempted, beyond the customary positive appraisal prepared by consultants selected and paid by the project promoters, in this case the National Transport Authority, a unit of the minister’s department.

The recent buoyancy of revenues from corporation tax, feared by the Department of Finance as liable to go into reverse, has provided cover for the pretence that taking risks with the public finances can be squared with prudence, including the resigned acceptance of the €1.45bn excess cost of the National Children’s Hospital (NCH), easily the biggest over-shoot on record.

Prudence

A paragraph about prudence is included in every speech from the Ministers for Finance and for Public Expenditure but there has been no public inquiry into the fiasco at the NCH, for which a budget of €800m was approved by the Government and where €2.25bn in capital cost has been incurred to date.

Debacle

A potential future debacle concerns promises to build stadiums around the country at public expense, with the GAA and the Football Association of Ireland to the fore. Individual stadium schemes appear modest but in aggregate there is another NCH in the making.

The GAA has too many stadiums, according to Dónal Óg Cusack, one of Cork’s great hurling goalkeepers.

He told RTÉ in February: “You have to look at the amount of stadiums that we have. Has anyone ever done an occupancy analysis on it? We have way too many stadiums. We’re investing loads of money in stadiums and there’s loads of proposals. I heard recently that there are 22 proposals that people are talking about for new stadiums.”

Cusack was referring just to the GAA. One of the 22 proposals, to which former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar promised €72m, is for a re-build of the stadium in Killarney where no major games have been played in recent years.

Most GAA county grounds have inadequate facilities with only a few modern stadiums.

The majority of counties rarely attract significant crowds to their games, all seem to expect Exchequer money and there is no willingness to share venues.

With a general election in the offing, the political parties are not just dropping hints of tax cuts

Had Cusack taken a look at the FAI’s strategic plan, he would have discovered the same wishlist mentality – one for everybody in the audience.

The FAI wishes to secure public money for upgrades at all but one of the 20 League of Ireland grounds.

Only Tallaght, built by South Dublin County Council and home to Shamrock Rovers, has been upgraded to modern standards. This leaves 19 in need of taxpayer support.

The FAI’s intention is to add a third 10-team division to the league, bringing the total of potential Exchequer supplicants from 19 to 29.

The Irish Rugby Football Union is not proposing new stadiums – the four provincial teams are adequately catered for at present and games have sensibly been routed to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork and to the Aviva and Croke Park in Dublin.

With a general election in the offing, the political parties are not just dropping hints of tax cuts. There is strong upward momentum in the public capital programme for sports projects.

Minister for Sport Catherine Martin has just announced a combined 12-court badminton centre and a cycling stadium at Abbotstown in Dublin, without providing any estimate of capital costs. These stadium projects are ideal election fodder for local candidates and there could be 30 or 40 between the GAA and soccer. The Government has even offered €48m from the Dublin Exchequer for Casement Park in Belfast.

Cost estimates

What few cost estimates are available suggest figures of €40m to €50m each for small stadiums comparable to Tallaght, with some far greater.

The combined bill could easily come to the €2.25bn spent on the NCH.

The Department of Sport and its offshoot, the Sports Council, should long ago have prepared some protection against this outbreak of stadium fever, a plan for a limited number of modernised smaller venues around the country, with compulsory ground-sharing as a condition of Exchequer support.