Costly proposal to cut public service expenses

YOUR columnist Fergus Finlay (September 2) is mistaken if he thinks he would save taxpayers’ money “by instituting a new rule that would simply recoup public servants the actual expenses they incur” instead of using the existing Department of Finance list of standardised allowances (September 2).

Because it aims to be comprehensive, this list may, as Mr Finlay says, run to 16 pages. It may even, as he also says, have taken weeks to prepare.

Imagine, however, if, as he suggests, every public servant had to submit every detail of every expense incurred. How many people and how much time would that take to examine?