Mick Clifford: When it comes to the vulnerable, bean counters and their masters can pinch pennies for Ireland

Every action, including expensive and protracted trips to court, is undertaken in defence of the public purse as successive cabinets keep nodding through the policy because it predated their arrival.

The nursing homes scandal highlights a theme that appears constant in the administration of public finances to vulnerable groups.

The nursing home charges issue, which exploded into politics this week, raises various questions about public finances and morality at an official level. Where stands the balance between looking after public money and taking care of citizens who were wronged in the past? What obligation does the state have to citizens, often vulnerable, who are also legal opponents? Are there any moral constraints in paying for the wrongs done in the past at the cost of taking care of citizens in the present?

These questions are all valid topics of debate. However, a theme that appears to be constant in the administration of public finances is that when it comes to vulnerable groups, elected and permanent governments manage to display a degree of prudence that is absent in many other areas of spending.