Billions to waste

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell, an eminent senior counsel, tells us that €300 million worth of legal fees at the Mahon tribunal will somehow cost €1 billion.

In the same week, Defence Minister Willie O’Dea, a qualified accountant, tells us that Pat Rabbitte’s €1 billion tax cut will cost, in his “expert opinion”, up to €3 billion.

With powers of arithmetic such as theirs, is it any wonder the Government of which they are members has squandered billions of taxpayers’ money over the last nine years? On recent evidence, an army of monkeys equipped with bean-counters would be better charged with the public purse.