Sir, – In the context of the ongoing commentary on the cost to the exchequer of the office of the president (€3.6 million), it is worth pointing out that it amounts to just 0.006 per cent of the €58 billion spent by government departments in 2017. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) met for 37 days in 2017. On that basis, the recent day spent by the PAC in examining the presidency (without the guidance of a chapter in the Comptroller & Auditor General’s annual report) consumed 2.6 per cent of the scarce and very valuable time which is available to the committee in relation to its important guardianship of the public purse. Accordingly, there may well be a case for improving the priorities and efficiency of the PAC itself. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN McDONALD,
Terenure,
Dublin 12.