The Comptroller and Auditor General, who runs a fine-tooth comb through public spending, this week set out a masterclass in loose oversight.
In his 2025 public services report, spending watchdog Séamus McCarthy examined the “management of compensation for cessation of turf cutting”, a matter the Department of Heritage has been in charge of since 2020.
The European Commission announced in March 2024 that it was referring Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to halt turf cutting on designated/protected bogs. The expectation was that financial penalties were looming, so the department took “urgent action”.
It had appointed “a bog plot owner” within a month to “leverage their expertise and networks” with a view to increasing the numbers signing up to be compensated to stop cutting turf on designated bogs.
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There was no competitive procurement process and the selected agent paid was almost €130,000 (€105 per hour for 1,234 hours) for services provided between April 2024 and August 2025.
“The evidence available to support and verify the agent’s work is limited,” the comptroller said, adding that “records of engagement between the agent and turfcutters were not available” as the department requested they be disposed of for data security reasons.
The department told the comptroller there were 392 new applicants for the scheme arising from the agent’s work, but it was unable to say how many succeeded. The agent benefited from the scheme’s lump sum payment while doing the job, which the department did not consider a conflict.
The comptroller reviewed a sample of 30 compensation files, with seven not containing “any evidence of checks to ensure turf cutting had ceased”.
The department said when indications of illegal cutting on plots linked to the scheme arise, it seeks a declaration saying the beneficiary did not cut turf or that the cutting was done without their consent. It then “considers that the matter is closed, and does not conduct any further checks or investigations to verify this statement”.
The comptroller suggested that the department should conduct more robust checks. The department agreed. No turf war there.
Donaldson’s ‘substantial’ home goes on the market
Some have argued, including Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, that the Democratic Unionist Party’s determination around the ongoing Garvaghy Road standoff seeks to distract from an upcoming event involving a former party figurehead.
Jeffrey Donaldson, who was party leader when he was arrested and charged with child sex offences in March 2024, is due to be sentenced this month for rape, gross indecency and indecent assault. His wife, Eleanor Donaldson, who faced a trial of the facts on mental health grounds, was found to have aided and abetted her husband.
The couple are estimated to have run up legal costs of some £500,000 (€585,000) and this is likely to rise, with each seeking to appeal their outcome. Their four-bed home on Dublinhill Road, Dromore, Co Down, has gone on the market, with £649,950 (€760,142) being sought for the four-bed property.
The “substantial detached country home enjoys beautiful, uninterrupted views of the Mourne Mountains”, according to an ad on PropertyPal.com. Features include a traditional maple kitchen with granite worktops and an oil-fired Aga, reclaimed pitch pine flooring, an impressive twin flight staircase, electric gates, landscaped gardens and a secluded barbecue area.
The Belfast Telegraph reports, citing Land Registry documents, that the couple bought the house for £380,000 in 2003 and that a charge was put on Jeffrey Donaldson’s interest in it earlier this year by a company connected to his solicitor.
No crowd, no pundits, no bother for Ireland v Israel viewers
Many people insisted they would not tune into Ireland’s politically charged Nations League game against Israel, which took place in a near-empty neutral stadium in Debrecen, Hungary, last Sunday. But many people say a lot of things.
RTÉ viewership figures show its stripped-back coverage did little to deter hundreds of thousands of football fans from tuning in for Ireland’s 3-0 win. No crowd, no pundits, no local commentary – no bother.
The broadcast had an average audience of 478,000 people, peaking at 573,000 viewers, with a further 230,000-plus following via the RTÉ Player. The figures were better than those for the previous Thursday’s loss to Kosovo, which had an average audience of 383,000 viewers, peaking at 486,000.
Context is important, however, and audiences for both games were significantly down on those for March’s heartbreaking World Cup play-off defeat to Czechia, and the preceding victories over Hungary and Portugal. All three high-stakes games had in and around one million viewers.
RTÉ had a contractual obligation to broadcast the Israel game, as it does again for Sunday’s return “home” fixture in Serbia, but it opted to take commentary from an international feed and to leave the punditry team in Dublin.
The broadcaster also chose not to take any advertising or sponsorship around the game, meaning a reasonable pay-day was abandoned for a fixture overshadowed by significant public revulsion over the huge death toll in Palestine.
Plenty will tune in again this weekend, with Troy Parrott’s wonder goal against Austria (a game that drew 449,000 viewers on average) having whetted appetites. What happens behind closed doors, stays behind them.
Shatter joins the press pack
There were surprises aplenty surrounding the Israel match. But a byline on a Jerusalem Post piece from Debrecen provided another, as did the arrival of the writer, former minister for justice Alan Shatter, to the Nagyerdei Stadium press box.
“After a berserk, topsy-turvy couple of days, of course the press box would include a former minister of justice,” said one of the travelling reporters.
Shatter has been a critic of much of the Irish response to events involving Israel and Palestine since October 7th, 2023, with the campaign to stop last Sunday’s game (and the return fixture) a particular bugbear.
His article focused on the drama in the build-up, including goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu withdrawing, citing his “belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong”.
Pointedly, Shatter reported: “Bazunu was one of Ireland’s reserve goalkeepers and was unlikely to have played.”
He noted that Bazunu was Southampton’s goalkeeper in the Premier League last season when they were relegated (Southampton were not in the Premier League last season). He also mentioned that Irish players Finn Azaz and “Brian Manning” (aka Ryan Manning) and Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz were now team-mates at Southampton while Bazunu “interestingly” now plays for Bolton Wanderers in League One.
His report dedicated three paragraphs to the match itself, another to how Israeli supporters chanted “IDF, IDF” in the dying minutes, and one to how “this writer” saw his X feed “hit by a deluge of anti-Semitic hate originating from Ireland” when posting updates.
Shatter also took issue with a line in The Irish Independent’s reporting from Debrecen, which he felt singled him out by mentioning his age (75) when referencing his press box appearance. “Is this ageist or a tribute to my vim & vigour? Total mystery,” he posted on X.
