Managing a budget is a skill that’s badly needed

We, as a nation, are in serious hock to all and sundry. We recently learned that the State, Central Bank, banks, businesses and households, aka you and me, owe a combined €1.64 trillion.

That is €1,640 with another 15 noughts after it. Mind you all of those entities mentioned above all have assets and when those are taken into account our net worth is minus €77bn. It’s still an awful lot. We cannot even comprehend such an amount of money. Yet we apparently owe it.

You’d think that we would be watching every penny we spent like most households have to. By the by, I’m using the royal ‘we’. I do, of course, mean the Government allegedly acting on our behalf. So are ‘we’ being careful? Not on your nellie. Where governments are concerned it’s certainly a case of “do as I say” rather than “do as I do”.

Our Government, because of the failures of its own processes and procedures, continues to waste money year in and year out. All you have to do is to see the Report of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. If it was only us it would be bad enough but the EU Commission appears to be no better. In fact, it could be argued that the EU is even is even worse at managing its budget.

In Ireland austerity is the watchword. Taxes are raised and salaries are cut. If the money was used wisely, we might not complain but it is not managed properly.

State indebtedness at the end of 2012 was around €192bn versus the €169bn at end of 2011. Yet the Government paid an employee who had been transferred to another government entity a double salary for six years even though he had told them he had been transferred. He even paid money back and it still paid him on the double. It paid a foreign government €4m in aid without getting a receipt despite knowing that corruption and diversion of funds is rife in that country. The list goes on and on.

The EU is guilty of similar offences. It spends €2.4bn each year on self-promotion compared to world soft drinks manufacturer Coca Cola’s €2.13bn. What about the €150m needed to pay to transfer the MEP entourage between the two seats of EU government, Brussels and Strasbourg, simply because France demands it?

Intriguingly the EU budget has increased to €126bn; that’s up €8.4bn on the previous year. We are required to cut back and these folk are spending more but even worse than that are apparently mismanaging it. The mind boggles.

We are the third most indebted country in the euro area behind Greece and Italy. That’s definitely not a good place to be. Economic observers are suggesting that a further bank bailout will be required with the possibility that depositors’ accounts might be raided to pay for the sins of others. You’d think that Government, permanent and political, would be more careful with what we have and would ensure that those managing our resources are more careful.

After all, they were part of the ‘team’ that brought us to this sorry state. Unfortunately, the waste goes on. If the recent referendum had not included the proposal for an appeal court it too would have a total waste of time. A rush of blood to the head on a dark night two years before you get into government is not a valid reason for having a referendum. That is particularly so when the cost in cash and credibility outweigh any money that might be saved in the medium term.

Even that does not take into account the possible constitutional and legal complications from changing so many clauses in the constitution at the same time, never mind the consequences for democracy if the Seanad had been abolished. Next general election we must insist that our candidates leave the horse manure at home when they go politicking.