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Ministers set the policies that civil servant implement
Sir, – Your editorial describes how taxpayers’ money has been wasted on a number of public projects.
While public servants must take their share of the blame, nowhere in your reporting are the relevant Ministers mentioned. For instance, the many millions lost on asylum seeker accommodation is explained away as a result of a “change in policy” in 2025.
However, it is important to be clear that sectoral policies belong to Ministers and are implemented by civil servants. The asylum and integration policies adopted by the then minister for justice, Helen McEntee , and the then minister for children and integration, Roderic O’Gorman , resulted in asylum applications rising to a record 18,651 in 2024, a 40 per cent increase over 2023.
There followed a crisis in relation to asylum accommodation; asylum seekers were sleeping on the streets and there was a rush to enter into precontract agreements in order to cope with an annual application rate of about 20,000. Since January 2025, with the change in government and ministerial portfolios, a strictly rule-based approach to asylum policy has been adopted and this whole area, including the provision of accommodation, has returned to manageable proportions.
Unfortunately, this has resulted in a short-term, but significant, cost to the taxpayer. – Yours, etc, MARTIN MCDONALD, Terenure, Dublin 12. Sir, – It is always amazing that when the Comptroller and Auditor General publishes a report of wasted expenditure by the State, there’s never a Minister, or even a junior minister, around to give an explanation or even an apology. – Yours, etc, RAY KING, Celbridge, Co Kildare.
Helen-Mcentee Roderic-O-Gorman
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