Is anyone ever held to account for failures in the public sector?

Sir, – Almost every day The Irish Times front page has some new scandalous tale of public sector gross incompetence.

Recently, almost beyond parody, was the tale of the South African lightly armoured vehicles purchased for the Army many years ago, most of which have almost no mileage recorded but nevertheless cost a fortune to service and maintain.

The secretary general of the Department of Defence, as part of her own defence, announced that the low recorded mileage might well be due to the odometers not working. These are the vehicles that were never deployed to serious use by the Army and were previously offered to Ukraine and rejected.

Today there is a report of hospital doctors appointed without criminal and other necessary checks, and apparently false records of assessments of English language competency.

Séamas O’Reilly: The idea that one man might shoulder burden of spite for us all is heroic

Ranelagh off-licence Redmonds to close: ‘I’ve never worked because it’s such great fun’

Why are there so many queues outside Dublin restaurants these days?

Monkstown three-bed features exposed granite walls and post-swim sauna

Also today, there is a small story about how the plan to rename Herzog Park could not be done legally, apparently because regulations required under 2011 legislation have not yet been provided by the Department of Housing and Local Government.

Is anyone ever held to account at any level for such failures? – Yours, etc,

DAVID DEVLIN,

Glenageary,

Co Dublin.