Martin Cullen is not Jennifer Aniston.

The Hollywood star is perfectly entitled, even if it makes her look rather ridiculous and incredibly self-absorbed, to spend over €55,000 on flying her hairdresser and friend from LA to London to ensure her trademark hairdo looks perfect for the premiere of her latest film. It's her money, after all, and if she wants to spend it on a cut and blow dry, probably a deep conditioning treatment and perhaps some highlights rather than, say, a few thousand wells in arid African villages, then so be it. What people decide to spend their money on says a lot about their values, but then, that's how we got into this economic mess.

Martin Cullen shares Aniston's love of excess. However, where he differs is that he tends to indulge it on the taxpayers' tab. He may consider almost €6,000 for a trip to a conference small beer in terms of costs, but that says a lot about his sense of value for money compared with the ordinary taxpayer's. Most people would prefer if he did not ring the army at will and call in a helicopter to suit his ministerial schedule, no matter how important it is to the future of the nation.

The fact that there seem to be so few protocols governing the use of army helicopters as the personal transport of government ministers who already have expensive chauffeur-driven Mercedes seems extraordinary.

If Brian Cowen really wants to save the country, he should ban the use of helicopters – and ban the use of Martin Cullen, a singularly under­whelming minister who again is proving himself more of a liability than an asset.