The Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, has defended the Government's record on getting value for money from its expenditure claiming the bulk of expenditure is achieving exactly what it is supposed to.
Delivering the Annual Business Lecture to the Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Mr Cowen emphasised that major projects must undergo a full cost benefit analysis as would be in the case in any professional business in Ireland.
He referred to new strict guidelines on costing, standardised terms of contract for major projects and said other plans to review expenditure would soon be unveiled.
Mr Cowen said that "the overwhelming bulk" of expenditure is achieving exactly what it is supposed to.
"It is very easy to play politics with this area by throwing together unconnected figures from different sources, or claiming that every part of a programme was wasted if any part of it showed waste or, and this we see every day, the contention that the failure to solve every problem means that there has been no progress.
"I believe that this approach has nothing to do with actually trying to improve value for money - and more to do with avoiding taking a position on the tough choices you must take every day, like where to allocate limited resources and where to raise them from."
"You can only get a perspective on value for money by setting it in the context of overall taxation and expenditure policy. It is unfortunately the case that value for money is being thrown around as a slogan implying that it can remove the need for any hard choices - that we can fund everything and reduce tax if we reduce waste.
"This doesn't stand up to even basic scrutiny. In fact, it is a cynical strategy to avoid taking a stance on the tough decisions which have to be taken every day in deciding what to fund and where to raise the money.
"I took note that during the run-up to the last UK general election this tactic was tried by the British Conservative Party and it didn't survive scrutiny - I don't believe that it will here either."
Mr Cowen continued "I believe the public would be better served by an honest debate where different alternatives were laid out - showing programme by programme where the money would go and showing exactly who would pay what. If it is claimed that a massive saving can be made on 'waste' then produce a list of exactly what will be saved on what programmes. Only then can the public make an informed choice. If I may borrow a phrase, Ireland deserves better than costings-free, sound-bite politics."
He concluded: "For our part, we will again engage prepare and produce our spending and taxation plans and publish them later this year. We will do so within the same absolute framework we have consistently applied - the need to protect and grow Ireland's success."