There’s a reason the Treasury departments sit beside the offices of the Prime minister in most countries. A country unmoored from financial anchors is ungovernable. A country run as a business misses one of the fundamental benefits of democratic accountability: responsiveness to the wishes of the people. The civil service is the buffer between the wishes of the governed, and the wishes of those who govern.  Ireland’s Treasury department has been split since the crisis. Finance deals with taking in taxes, and international issues. Public Expenditure and Reform deals with spending, and, well, reform.  We talk endlessly about international issues…

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