This is a book best read in small doses so that your indignation doesn't get eroded as you go. The catalogue of errors, incompetence and feather-bedding will annoy readers and further confirm the opinion that the public service is in need of a radical shake-up, one that is not likely to happen under the Croke Park agreement.

The book starts slowly, with a too- detailed history of the semi-states, but begins to find its true pace when it hits the topic of The Bert.

The Bert, his 'jobs-for-friends' policy, and his passion for setting up as many new quangos as possible, contributed to the egregious waste of taxpayers' money that continues des­pite An Bord Snip Nua.

The main waste, of course, is in Fás, the HSE and CIÉ – lumbering state bodies which constantly seem to be in the news for the wrong reasons – and here Ross (inset) and Webb have form, having broken many stories about projects that went wrong, junkets that cost thousands and mismanagement that cost millions.

Some of the figures bear repeating. In 2008, €29m was spent on a Fás job- training programme that was aimed at getting the long-term unemployed back to work. Only 46 people completed the course, meaning it cost an eye-watering €890,000 per person. Not one person got a job afterwards. Morgan Kelly once pointed out that it would be better to burn €1.5bn rather than put it into Anglo Irish Bank. Fás is the equivalent. Much of what it does appears to have no real value in real-world terms.

Ross and Webb also take a potshot at the waste in the Dublin Docklands Development Authority and much of that material will already be familiar to readers of the Sunday Tribune.

Elsewhere, the salaries paid to top civil servants and those in the semi-states are compared to international equivalents. It's a simple but effective strategy. The head of Coillte is paid more than the US president, and Declan Collier of the DDDA is paid more than the prime ministers of Germany and France combined. "Because we're worth it" was the belief of the politicians during the boom. We've learnt how wrong they were.

Wasters

By Shane Ross and Nick Webb

Penguin

€17.99