I know these iPads are expensive tools but the Department of Agriculture must be buying gold ones with the €11.6m spent on IT last year.

It also wracked up phone costs of €92,000.

The big spend included €6.5m on IT rental and maintenance so you’d be hoping it was rent to buy.

Minister McConalogue seems to have tightened the belt this year however, with a much smaller €4.2m spent on IT up until mid-July. Either that or he’s set to splash the cash at Currys before the year’s out.