More than €1bn of taxpayers' money has been wasted every year since FF came to power 10 years ago, a Sunday Independent investigation reveals.

It's official, the good times are over and we all have to tighten our belts.

We have been saying it for months, but last Thursday Finance Minister and Tanaiste Brian Cowen finally declared at his pre-Budget Estimates that the economy has "peaked", is now slowing down and that things have become very tight.

As he shifted uncomfortably in front of the cameras, he told us that 2007 represents a "turning point for the Irish economy".

We should not be overly worried but, baby, the party for now is over.

However, as the economy has ground to a halt, and the money dries up, we are asking, what do we have to show for a decade of unprecedented wealth?

A third-class road and rail network, hospitals which are killing healthy people who enter them, and primary children who either face going to school in a prefab or miles away from home are just some of the hallmarks of this Government's waste since it took power in 1997.

This week, the Sunday Independent conducted an in-depth investigation into the endemic waste of our taxes by Fianna Fail.

We can show that since FF took office a decade ago, more than €1bn of taxpayers' money has been wasted annually.

A list of failed projects, delayed works, bloated bureaucracy and poor management have all led to more than €10bn being squandered in the last 10 years.

Taxpayers' money has been squandered by every Government department including €100m on the abandoned Stadium Campus Ireland project, the €471m overrun on the Luas, the €150m overspend on the Port Tunnel, as well as almost a €1bn wasted on the Government's botched de-centralisation policy.

Figures obtained from the Department of Finance, opposition parties, the Central Statistics Office and the Central Bank, collated by the Sunday Independent, detail for the first time exactly how inefficient the Government has become during Bertie Ahern's tenure as Taoiseach.

The total Government spend has more than trebled from €15bn in 1997 to a projected €51bn next year, announced by Cowen during the week.

Opposition parties, hospital patient groups and leading economists have said that institutional waste during a time of plenty and the failure to deliver a first world infrastructure is endangering Ireland's competitiveness internationally.

One of the key areas is the health service. Its funding has increased from €3.2bn in 1997 to almost €13bn this year. Despite this massive injection since 1997, the Health Service Executive, which employs 70,000 people and 36,000 indirectly, is now closing wards and has introduced a freeze on new employees.

The closure of a 10-bed ward in Nenagh hospital is just one of a number of high-profile ward shutdowns in recent weeks. The Irish Patients Association has said cuts and ward closures currently being enforced by the HSE are unforgivable.

Steve McMahon of the Irish Patients Association said: "It is an organisation rife with institutionalised bureaucracy. When they formed the HSE in 2005 they should have introduced a redundancy package and cleared their ranks.

"At least 60 per cent of the cost of the HSE is staff, and there are too many managers in the system."

McMahon also said that with the slowdown in the economy, budgets will be cut and the ward closures that have occurred in recent weeks will become more common.

Another example of waste and bad management was the PPARS payroll system fiasco in 2005 which is currently "suspended until further notice". The cost for the failed system was at least €160m.

Added to this was the €1bn plus pay-out to nursing home patients and their families, who were wrongfully and unlawfully charged.

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In the wake of this, Fine Gael's Richard Bruton was heavily critical of Mary Harney for effectively abdicating all control of the health service to the HSE, which is not politically accountable.

Transport is another area that has seen endemic waste, over spending and bad management since 1997. Spending on transport has risen sharply from €151m in 1997 to €2.8bn this year.

Apart from the overspends and underestimation in the cost of the Port Tunnel and the two Luas lines that don't link up, and the chaos that is the M50, Ireland's road building projects since 1997 have collectively cost €3.2bn more than what was originally forecast, according to our figures.

Jimmy Quinn of the Irish Road Haulage Association said that the ambitious capital building projects have begun 10 years too late and up until recently were blighted by poor management lacking vision, which ultimately has led to the public paying over the odds.

He added: "The M50 has been a disaster and the lack of vision and forward planning by not building three lanes to begin with is and has been costing us dearly."

Quinn also highly objects to the use of tolling, particularly on the M50, describing them as a treble tax on his members who use the roads most often.

Dublin Airport is another example of poor management by the Government.

Successive Fianna Fail transport ministers have failed to anticipate the growth in numbers leading to years of suffering for passengers. Even the Pier D and the Terminal 2 developments, which are costing the exchequer €2bn, are likely to be operating a full capacity when they open.

Friends First chief economist Jim Power says Ireland also needs a second airport -- and he believes the refusal of Mr Ahern and the Cabinet to look beyond the slow development of Dublin Airport has cost the country dearly.

"Away from the politics of north Dublin, Ireland should have a second international hub airport close to the midlands where there is plenty of room for future development.

"The airport should be properly integrated with adequate rail and bus links. If it was me I wouldn't build one out in Dublin," he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education, which has seen its annual budget rise from €2.9bn in 1997 to €8.3bn this year, has failed to drastically alter class sizes or ensure adequate facilities for children around the country.

Cases like Laytown national school in 2006 and the more recent example of pupils in Maryboro national school, Portlaoise, being educated in prefabs shows clearly how the system is failing.

The Government has also failed to meet the demand in Dublin satellite towns where parents have little or no option regarding schooling.

One example of this is Gorey, Co Wexford which has a population of 30,000 and one school with 1,700 pupils.

Officially, the average class size at primary level is 24 but numbers vary greatly between rural and urban areas.

In some areas class sizes are regularly over 30.

The National Parents Council described the Government's record on education and the provision of adequate buildings and resources as highly questionable.

In contrast to the €1bn waste mounted up by the FF Government annually, according to figures from the Department of Finance, a drop of one per cent in income tax would cost the exchequer about €800m every year.

Much of the spending splurge from public coffers has gone on increased staff numbers and wages.

Since 2002, the number of public sector employees has risen dramatically by 69,000 to 308,000. The total cost of the public sector pay bill for this year will be €17.5bn.

The problem will get worse as a second round of benchmarking is due to get under way next year, further adding to the cost to the taxpayer for running the country.

Benchmarking was introduced as an incentive to improve performance, but Fine Gael yesterday described its implantation as disastrous.

Mr Cowen admitted to the Sunday Independent that benchmarking had not been completely successful and the taxpayer had not gotten decent value for money.

It is a damning indictment of FF and the PDs that such a poor return for our investment has been made and we are still playing catch-up.

All the while, we have paid over the odds. Some have died as a result in our hospitals; thousands of hours have been wasted sitting in traffic and children have been denied their right to a decent education.

So well done Bertie, well done Brian, and well done Mary -- thanks for nothing.

- Daniel McConnell