The zany off-the-wall contraptions invented by cartoonist Rube Goldberg earned him a place in the dictionary.
His fantastical images featured machines designed to do things in the most inefficient and overly complicated way imaginable.
But even Mr Goldberg would have thought a printer so big that it required a fork-lift lorry to load, and demolition of doors and walls to install, would be simply too fanciful, even in the realms of the absurd.
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In his honour, “to Goldberg” meant to screw-up on a scale that bankrupts belief.
The story of the €1.8m Dáil printer is a gross insult to the hard-working taxpayers of this country.
Apparently a report, compiled for the Public Accounts Committee by the clerk of the Dáil Peter Finnegan, was unable to establish why a model too big for the actual printing room was necessary.
Were it not for the fact that all around the country there are elderly people on trolleys waiting for beds in overcrowded hospitals, and people sleeping in doorways, the fiasco might even be funny.
The printer, which is still idle and which cost €2,000 a month to keep in storage – before it was installed at another cost of €229,000 (excluding Vat) – has, however, been put to some use thanks to the ingenuity of staff.
Photographs taken of it in situ show trousers left to dry hanging nearby, so it would be unfair to say it is entirely redundant.
It has further been reported staff were seeking additional payment to be trained on how to use the new printer/clothes dryer.
So will anyone be held to account or called to atone, if that is not an unfortunate phrase in the context of an out-of-work printer? It seems unlikely. We have been here before.
Does anyone now speak of the e-voting machines?
The Government in its wisdom spent €54m on 7,500 of the machines.
On June 29, 2012, this paper reported how a fleet of trucks was ordered to take them away and they were sold for scrap at a price of €9.30 each.
It would be difficult to argue with Sinn Féin’s Public Accounts Committee member David Cullinane’s summation of the controversy as a mess “from start to finish”.
Today there are four by-elections to be held and soon there will be a general election.
If you look at the share of the votes, you will see how established parties are draining support with the years.
Trust must be earned. If a taxpayer fails to pay their way they are rightly fined and penalised.
If a politician squanders a taxpayer’s hard-earned money, there is no sanction.
As Thomas Paine put it: “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”
And so the cycle of unchecked waste goes on, with only the taxpayer having to account.
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Home » Analysis & Comment » Editorial: 'Politicians must be held to account for printer fiasco'
Editorial: 'Politicians must be held to account for printer fiasco'
The zany off-the-wall contraptions invented by cartoonist Rube Goldberg earned him a place in the dictionary.
His fantastical images featured machines designed to do things in the most inefficient and overly complicated way imaginable.
But even Mr Goldberg would have thought a printer so big that it required a fork-lift lorry to load, and demolition of doors and walls to install, would be simply too fanciful, even in the realms of the absurd.
Please log in or register with Independent.ie for free access to this article.
Log In
New to Independent.ie? Create an account
In his honour, “to Goldberg” meant to screw-up on a scale that bankrupts belief.
The story of the €1.8m Dáil printer is a gross insult to the hard-working taxpayers of this country.
Apparently a report, compiled for the Public Accounts Committee by the clerk of the Dáil Peter Finnegan, was unable to establish why a model too big for the actual printing room was necessary.
Were it not for the fact that all around the country there are elderly people on trolleys waiting for beds in overcrowded hospitals, and people sleeping in doorways, the fiasco might even be funny.
The printer, which is still idle and which cost €2,000 a month to keep in storage – before it was installed at another cost of €229,000 (excluding Vat) – has, however, been put to some use thanks to the ingenuity of staff.
Photographs taken of it in situ show trousers left to dry hanging nearby, so it would be unfair to say it is entirely redundant.
It has further been reported staff were seeking additional payment to be trained on how to use the new printer/clothes dryer.
So will anyone be held to account or called to atone, if that is not an unfortunate phrase in the context of an out-of-work printer? It seems unlikely. We have been here before.
Does anyone now speak of the e-voting machines?
The Government in its wisdom spent €54m on 7,500 of the machines.
On June 29, 2012, this paper reported how a fleet of trucks was ordered to take them away and they were sold for scrap at a price of €9.30 each.
It would be difficult to argue with Sinn Féin’s Public Accounts Committee member David Cullinane’s summation of the controversy as a mess “from start to finish”.
Today there are four by-elections to be held and soon there will be a general election.
If you look at the share of the votes, you will see how established parties are draining support with the years.
Trust must be earned. If a taxpayer fails to pay their way they are rightly fined and penalised.
If a politician squanders a taxpayer’s hard-earned money, there is no sanction.
As Thomas Paine put it: “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”
And so the cycle of unchecked waste goes on, with only the taxpayer having to account.
Source: Read Full Article