IT article: "State spending has soared by 1/3rd since 2016 with little discernible benefit"

[Marsupial]

I can say with certainty that it places no additional administrative burden or cost on us.

But a whole new Government Unit was set up to oversee it:

"Since establishment, there has been a growth in the mandate and workload of the DPC. Funding for the DPC has increased more than six-fold from its 2015 allocation of €3.647 million, to a €23.2 million Budget allocation in 2022. This has been in line with its increased functions and responsibilities. Based on current information, the DPC staffing numbers have increased from 110 in 2018 to 191 at the end of 2021 and there is provision for total staff numbers of 258 by the end of 2022, based on the sanctioned budget allocation."

And that's just one of many new bodies that have been set up to supervise something or other since the days when Bertie announced that
the then Director of Corporate Enforcement would have to "wait his turn" for extra staff.

 

[Purple]

And that's just one of many new bodies that have been set up to supervise something or other since the days when Bertie announced that
the then Director of Corporate Enforcement would have to "wait his turn" for extra staff.

Yes, layers of inefficient bureaucratic fat clogging the arteries of the State. No need for most of it if the State Sector functioned efficiently.

 

[odyssey06]

The DPC here is responsible for oversight on some of the largest tech companies in the EU, because their European headquarters are here, bringing in massive tax revenues. Of all the increases, this is one of the most understandable.

This is not something you should skimp on given our EU wide responsibilities and the stakes.

Since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018, the DPC has imposed fines of more than €4 billion on big tech firms. Just €20 million of that has been paid, as most of the rulings are under appeal. In May 2023, the DPC imposed a record fine of €1.2bn on Meta for breaches relating to the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US.

Data protection watchdog moves to new Dublin headquarters

The Data Protection Commission has moved to new headquarters in Dublin which will bring together all of the Commission's Dublin-based staff into one office.

www.rte.ie

 

[Marsupial]

Since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018, the DPC has imposed fines of more than €4 billion on big tech firms. Just €20 million of that has been paid, as most of the rulings are under appeal.

More money for the lawyers. And much of it coming from the Irish taxpayer. Who gets the fines at the end of the day? The Exchequer or the EU?


Incidentally, I agree with you about the importance of the DPC; it's come a long way since Bertie (yes, that man again) located it above a Centra shop in Portarlington! I quoted it simply as a convenient example of bureaucratic and budgetary growth.

In response to your link to the new DPC offices: remember this?

Department of Public Expenditure queried “exorbitant” cost of plan for new headquarters for Data Protection Commission​

 

[Purple]

Is the 1/3rd increase in state spending not just keeping in line with 8 years inflation from 2016 to 2024 in particular the high inflation experienced in 2022/23 ?

Consumer Price Inflation during that period was 20.5%.
It would be very surprising if a substantial element of that was driven by increases in Government Spending.

 

[Purple]

More money for the lawyers. And much of it coming from the Irish taxpayer. Who gets the fines at the end of the day? The Exchequer or the EU?

We get billions in taxes from the MNC's that we regulate.

 

[Marsupial]

We get billions in taxes from the MNC's that we regulate.

if they were regulated from Rome, Rodez or Riga we'd get the exact same billions.

 

[Purple]

if they were regulated from Rome, Rodez or Riga we'd get the exact same billions.

They are regulated where they are headquartered, which is where they pay their taxes so no, we wouldn't.

 

[Zenith63]

The population supported by the government has increased 7.5% over that time period and the cost of goods/services has increased 23%, so a 33% increase in spending was required for the government to deliver a similar level of service to 2016 no?

 

[odyssey06]

In response to your link to the new DPC offices: remember this?

That's on the OPW not the DPC... hammer away there!

 

[Purple]

The population supported by the government has increased 7.5% over that time period and the cost of goods/services has increased 23%, so a 33% increase in spending was required for the government to deliver a similar level of service to 2016 no?

Of course cost savings and investment in IT and better processes, as well as shared services centres, standardisation of contracts and HR function and all of the other improvements that the Public Sector engage in each year have negated the need for much of that investment... oh, wait...

 

[Itchy]

The DPC here is responsible for oversight on some of the largest tech companies in the EU, because their European headquarters are here, bringing in massive tax revenues. Of all the increases, this is one of the most understandable.

This is not something you should skimp on given our EU wide responsibilities and the stakes.

Apart from that, what have the Romans ever done for us?

The one that probably ticks the most boxes is New Zealand because it has a similar population, 5.22 million versus 5.3 million. Both countries also have comparably sized civil services. New Zealand has almost 64,000 civil servants versus our 53,000.

The bad news is that New Zealand came joint sixth in the index and wipes our eye on all four measures, particularly in people and processes (they come second and we come 57th). The only area in which we come close is public policy (we come eighth and they come 6th). For the record, they are placed 12th for national delivery and 11th for strategy and leadership.

It’s probably a bit simplistic, but both countries seem to be equally good at coming up with policies, although we are much worse at getting them done. Could the fact that New Zealand civil servants seem a much happier bunch than our own be the reason? Could the fact that there are 10,000 more of them explain the difference?

John McManus: How many civil servants does it take to run a small country like Ireland?

We are pretty good at coming up with policies but average at implementing them compared to peers

www.irishtimes.com