SUSI IT overspend exposes public spending failure

SUSI IT overspend exposes public spending failure - The Labour Party

Labour’s Eoghan Kenny TD and Senator Laura Harmon have today demanded urgent accountability from Government following revelations at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that the cost of an IT system for the State’s student grant scheme, SUSI, has overrun by almost three times its original €2.2 million budget. They said the scandal exposed a deep failure in public spending oversight and called on Government to immediately explain how this happened and how students will be compensated for yet another costly failure.

Labour member on the Public Accounts Committee Deputy Eoghan Kenny said:

“This is another failed State IT project with a significant and frankly shocking overspend. We have seen this pattern too many times, and once again it is taxpayers and students who are left to pick up the bill. 

“This project started back in 2015 and by 2024 it had already reached a cost of €6.4 million, while still being described as in a so-called “pre project phase”. When I raised this directly in the Dáil with Minister James Lawless all he could say was that his department would send him a report. That is not good enough. Students and taxpayers deserve answers, not more reports and delays.

“We are seeing a worrying trend of overspending and poor value for money under this Government, and it is ordinary people who lose out every time. Labour is calling for full transparency on how this project was managed, who signed off on the escalating costs, and what consequences will follow. Government must ensure that those responsible are held to account and that robust controls are put in place to prevent this happening again.”

Labour spokesperson on Further and Higher Education Senator Laura Harmon said:

“This extraordinary overspending of public money should have been directly invested in student support. An overspend of €4.4 million would have fully covered the average adjacent grant of €3,320 for more than 1,300 students. Instead, that money has been swallowed up by a project that remains unfinished ten years after it began. This is an astounding waste of public funds and a kick in the teeth to students and families who are already under enormous pressure.This kind of mismanagement is impossible to justify and deeply damaging to public trust.

“This is a kick in the teeth to students and families who are struggling with rising accommodation costs, living costs and student fees. And yet the State can somehow find millions for an unfinished IT project that has been dragging on for a decade. We need answers for how this happened immediately. Crucially, we also need to see action to redirect public spending where it is actually needed, towards real, tangible support for students and their families. Students cannot wait any longer while millions are wasted.”