Every €15k in grants costs €3k to process

THE Government has been accused of “bureaucratic overkill” after running up an average of €3,000 in administration costs for every €15,000 payment made under a grant scheme.

It means that the €10m payments made to date under the Department of Agriculture scheme have cost another €2m to administer.

Fine Gael has accused Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith of presiding over gross inefficiency in his department, saying the administration costs are extraordinarily high.