State resources are plentiful, but it won’t always be so

With a no-deal Brexit looming, it’s vital the state adopts more vigilance when it comes to government departments wasting and misspending taxpayers’ money

At this time every year, the annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) is published. It’s quite the tome, examining the spending of every government department and agency over the course of 12 months. When you consider that the state spends more than €60 billion a year on behalf of taxpayers, the report deserves to be read in some detail and acted on.

The C&AG looks at whether expenditure follows procedures ...