Stairway to nowhere: What the €500,000 steps really tell us about how Ireland makes decisions

THERE’S SOMETHING ODDLY reassuring about the recent story of the €500,000 steps in Dublin. The lifecycle of a waste of moneyEvery expensive public project begins with a decision that feels too minor to challenge. And delays are treated as a greater sin than overspending in Irish public procurement. The real problem isn’t that the steps cost too much, or that the wall doubled its budget. Until public systems create space and obligation for proportionality checks above technical compliance, we’ll keep being surprised by outcomes locked in from the first small, unremarkable decision.