Tribunals are entertaining but no one’s going to jail

With election fever rising, it was only to be expected that the debate about the costs of the tribunals would have had an outing last week.

As usual, it amounted to the usual 24hour media wonder on a slow news day: politicians slagged each other off across the wavelengths, there were a few newspaper headlines, but mostly it was just the plain people of Ireland buttoning up their coats and making their way home in the miserable February chill.

The truth is plain to see: we are a decade up to our necks in the most flagrant waste of ...