{"id":644394,"date":"2026-10-04T09:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T09:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/644394\/"},"modified":"2026-10-04T09:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T09:32:11","slug":"departments-e130k-turf-agent-a-masterclass-in-loose-oversight-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/644394\/","title":{"rendered":"Department\u2019s \u20ac130k \u2018turf agent\u2019 a masterclass in loose oversight \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Comptroller and Auditor General<\/a>, who runs a fine-tooth comb through public spending, this week set out a masterclass in loose oversight. <\/p>\n

In his 2025 public services report, spending watchdog S\u00e9amus McCarthy examined the \u201cmanagement of compensation for cessation of turf cutting\u201d, a matter the Department of Heritage has been in charge of since 2020. <\/p>\n

The European Commission<\/a> announced in March 2024 that it was referring Ireland to the European Court of Justice<\/a> for failing to halt turf cutting on designated\/protected bogs. The expectation was that financial penalties were looming, so the department took \u201curgent action\u201d. <\/p>\n

It had appointed \u201ca bog plot owner\u201d within a month to \u201cleverage their expertise and networks\u201d with a view to increasing the numbers signing up to be compensated to stop cutting turf on designated bogs. <\/p>\n

There was no competitive procurement process and the selected agent paid was almost \u20ac130,000 (\u20ac105 per hour for 1,234 hours) for services provided between April 2024 and August 2025. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence available to support and verify the agent\u2019s work is limited,\u201d the comptroller said, adding that \u201crecords of engagement between the agent and turfcutters were not available\u201d as the department requested they be disposed of for data security reasons.<\/p>\n

The department told the comptroller there were 392 new applicants for the scheme arising from the agent\u2019s work, but it was unable to say how many succeeded. The agent benefited from the scheme\u2019s lump sum payment while doing the job, which the department did not consider a conflict.<\/p>\n

The comptroller reviewed a sample of 30 compensation files, with seven not containing \u201cany evidence of checks to ensure turf cutting had ceased\u201d. <\/p>\n

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 \u201cconsiders that the matter is closed, and does not conduct any further checks or investigations to verify this statement\u201d.<\/p>\n

The comptroller suggested that the department should conduct more robust checks. The department agreed. No turf war there.<\/p>\n

\"JeffreyJeffrey and Eleanor Donaldson’s home in Dromore, Co Down has gone on the market. Photograph: PropertyPal Donaldson\u2019s \u2018substantial\u2019 home goes on the market<\/p>\n

Some have argued, including Aont\u00fa leader Peadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn, that the Democratic Unionist Party\u2019s determination around the ongoing Garvaghy Road standoff seeks to distract from an upcoming event involving a former party figurehead.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Donaldson<\/a>, 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. <\/p>\n

The couple are estimated to have run up legal costs of some \u00a3500,000 (\u20ac585,000) 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 \u00a3649,950 (\u20ac760,142) being sought for the four-bed property.<\/p>\n

The \u201csubstantial detached country home enjoys beautiful, uninterrupted views of the Mourne Mountains\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe twin flight staircase in Jeffrey and Eleanor Donaldson’s home in Dromore, Co Down. Photograph: PropertyPal <\/p>\n

The Bel\u00adfast Tele\u00adgraph reports, citing Land Registry documents, that the couple bought the house for \u00a3380,000 in 2003 and that a charge was put on Jeffrey Don\u00adald\u00adson\u2019s interest in it earlier this year by a company connected to his solicitor. <\/p>\n

No crowd, no pundits, no bother for Ireland v Israel viewers<\/p>\n

Many people insisted they would not tune into Ireland\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 viewership figures show its stripped-back coverage did little to deter hundreds of thousands of football fans from tuning in for Ireland\u2019s 3-0 win. No crowd, no pundits, no local commentary \u2013 no bother.<\/p>\n

\"IrelandIreland play Israel in the UEFA Nations League group stage at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary on Sunday. Photograph: INPHO\/Ryan Byrne <\/p>\n

The broadcast had an average audience of 478,000 people, peaking at 573,000 viewers, with a further 230,000-plus following via the RT\u00c9 Player. The figures were better than those for the previous Thursday\u2019s loss to Kosovo, which had an average audience of 383,000 viewers, peaking at 486,000. <\/p>\n

Context is important, however, and audiences for both games were significantly down on those for March\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 had a contractual obligation to broadcast the Israel game, as it does again for Sunday\u2019s return \u201chome\u201d fixture in Serbia, but it opted to take commentary from an international feed and to leave the punditry team in Dublin.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Plenty will tune in again this weekend, with Troy Parrott\u2019s wonder goal against Austria (a game that drew 449,000 viewers on average) having whetted appetites. What happens behind closed doors, stays behind them. <\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer minister of justice Alan Shatter. Photograph: Collins Shatter joins the press pack<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a berserk, topsy-turvy couple of days, of course the press box would include a former minister of justice,\u201d said one of the travelling reporters. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s game (and the return fixture) a particular bugbear. <\/p>\n

His article focused on the drama in the build-up, including goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu<\/a> withdrawing, citing his \u201cbelief that the killing of innocent people is wrong\u201d. <\/p>\n

Pointedly, Shatter reported: \u201cBazunu was one of Ireland\u2019s reserve goalkeepers and was unlikely to have played.\u201d <\/p>\n

He noted that Bazunu was Southampton\u2019s 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 \u201cBrian Manning\u201d (aka Ryan Manning) and Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz were now team-mates at Southampton while Bazunu \u201cinterestingly\u201d now plays for Bolton Wanderers in League One.<\/p>\n

His report dedicated three paragraphs to the match itself, another to how Israeli supporters chanted \u201cIDF, IDF\u201d in the dying minutes, and one to how \u201cthis writer\u201d saw his X feed \u201chit by a deluge of anti-Semitic hate originating from Ireland\u201d when posting updates. <\/p>\n

Shatter also took issue with a line in The Irish Independent\u2019s reporting from Debrecen, which he felt singled him out by mentioning his age (75) when referencing his press box appearance. \u201cIs this ageist or a tribute to my vim & vigour? Total mystery,\u201d he posted on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Comptroller and Auditor General, who runs a fine-tooth comb through public spending, this week set out a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[106623,16253,38183,26189,36768,42,3411,14062,3659,43,18254,17861,40,38,41,39,606],"class_list":["post-644394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alan-shatter","tag-aontu","tag-comptroller-and-auditor-general","tag-democratic-unionist-party","tag-gavin-bazunu","tag-headlines","tag-israel-hamas-conflict","tag-jeffrey-donaldson","tag-michelle-o-neill","tag-news","tag-orange-order","tag-peadar-toibin","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-x"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}