Is the EU presidency really worth €70m to Ireland?

Reports today suggest that Ireland plans to spend €70m for the Presidency of the Council of the European Union over the next year, even though it exceeds a spending cap.

What could we, as a nation, do with €70 million? Take a few people off hospital trollies? Build a new school or two? Or host the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for a grand total of six whole months? Six months or, if you’re a numbers man, that works out to cost around €385,000 for every day that Ireland holds the top seat.

However, we might be overshooting the mark already. The €70m that has been allocated is double the €35m spending cap which was imposed by Denmark to help and deliver a ‘low cost’ presidency, which is only fair what with Europe down the crapper, and all that.

A report in the Sunday Times suggests that the Irish Government has allocated €25m in spending for this year, in order to ‘prepare’ for the presidency, and €35m for 2013, but expects the total to be in excess of €70m.

When all is said an done, will our six months sitting in the president's chair be really worth all that money? What do you think?