Scandals such as the botched PPars health service payroll system, the scrapping of plans for electronic voting, and delays in construction of the Luas railway and the Dublin port tunnel have hardly amounted to value for taxpayers' money.

PPars The controversial PPars health service payroll system has proved to be a taxpayers' nightmare as it is set to cost at least Euro231m - over 25 times the original estimate of Euro8.8m.

Beset by technical faults, the system has caused many payroll problems for health agencies since it was introduced on a pilot basis in recent years. One employee was paid Euro1m in error by PPars in July 2004.

E-voting Martin Cullen, former minister for environment and local government, splashed out Euro57m of public money on his evoting system, which was quickly branded a "dead duck" by a cross-party DA il Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The PAC warned last year that keeping the 7,504 machines in mothballs would add another Euro700,000 a year to the public bill, pushing total costs up to Euro71m over the next 20 years.

While the e-voting machines were used on a pilot basis in three constituencies in the last general election in 2002, the national roll-out of the electronic voting system was halted in 2004 amid controversy over the security and reliability of the machines.

Dublin port tunnel The Dublin port tunnel took more than five years to build before it was officially opened on 20 December last at a cost of Euro752m - some Euro300m over budget.

The intention to build it was announced at a Dublin Chamber of Commerce event in 1993 and it opened two years behind schedule.

Some Euro304m, or almost half of the Euro752m spent on the tunnel, went on legal fees, underground land costs, construction supervisors' fees and environmental reports, while it cost Euro448m actually to build it.

The original tender price for construction of the tunnel had been Euro450m.

Luas Luas, Dublin's light rail tram system, is derived from the Irish word for speed, but construction of the Luas was anything but quick.

After problems with cost projections, construction works and the Red Cow Roundabout crisis, the Euro770m service eventually opened in June 2004 - some 12 years after it was approved at cabinet level.

The project went more than Euro100m over budget, even though it was due to be completed in 2003 at a cost of Euro675m.