One overlooked aspect of the housing crisis has been the Government’s dominant role in the accommodation market. While policy is shifting, fortunes continue to be made.
Three quarters of the children placed in residential care in Ireland live in commercial accommodation. Investors have entered this growing industry, where inspections of the largest owners’ children’s homes show a mixed record.
State bodies have the purchasing power to encourage the market to produce greener goods and services. New data shows signs of improvement in green procurement but with plenty of room to improve.
The longstanding use of retrospective purchase orders raises questions around internal governance and value for money at the broadcaster and is currently under close watch by its audit and risk committee.
A Belfast company has won the contract to televise parliamentary debates twice in the past decade. As it comes up for renewal, employment conditions have come to the fore following a staff protest and criticism by TDs and senators.
Over €800m in payments for the National Children’s Hospital are in dispute between its development board and contractor Bam. One more has just made its way to the High Court.
The State’s commitment to fund Metrolink before its cost is known illustrates the abandonment of project selection on the basis of their business case.
The annual rent the OPW pays on behalf of the PSCU has increased over the years from around €60,000 to almost €200,000 since 2022. The arrangement has been in place since the 1990s.
The latest audit shows non-compliant contracts accounted for only 1.15% of the Office of Public Works' budget. But compliance does not always equate with good procurement under "arbitrary" rules.
The value of the contract, which has increased from €30m in 2016, reflects the NTA’s desire to install 500 new bus shelters a year, up from 120 a year when the contract was first put to tender nine years ago.
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