The taxpayer is to pick up a bill of over €73 million for the overrun of part of a drainage system being built in Limerick City according to figures released by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) today.
Part of a new €130 million drainage system for Limerick City, originally expected to cost less than €10m in 2000, will ultimately cost eight times more as a result of the termination of a contract by the city council that was later found to be wrongful by both a conciliator and an arbitrator.
With damages, legal fees and a replacement contract taken into account the cost of the project is likely to be in the region of €83 million which will be passed on to the taxpayer.
The C&AG, John Purcell, also said that the Committee of Public Accounts should consider the "ineffective strategic and budgetary control over spending in the Health Service Executive".
He said "the HSE issued requests for tenders for a number of projects without obtaining sanction".
However, in a statement released this evening the HSE said that the period the report covered was from January to December 2006 and that "significant progress" has been made since then.
"The HSE is continuing to work with the Department of Finance and make further progress on this matter during 2007," the statement added.
Mr Purcell also found that 80 per cent of Revenue seizures at airports in 2006 happened at Dublin Airport, with over €15 million worth of goods seized.
Drugs worth €7.2 million and cigarettes worth €6.8 million accounted for the majority of goods seized.
The report also revealed that Revenue officers mounted a blitz on passengers returning from shopping trips to the USA but found no "significant revenue evasion".
As a result of the blitz revenue found only four passengers carrying goods in excess of the limits, one with 2,400 cigarettes and another with a musical instrument.