You often hear how the government wastes money on consultants. And, I'm sure that many of the consultants are paid for stating the obvious, but even so sometimes the government needs to hear the obvious. And, if the obvious can be stated and acted on at a cost much less than the cost of behaving stupidly thanks to a consultant's report, then I'm all for more consultants' reports.
What am I talking about? Well, yesterday the government decided not to provide Waterford Crystal with the guarantee they were seeking. This was following advice from a consultant. And as long as the consultant didn't charge €39m, we've got a good result.
