A total of €73m in fees have been paid to financial experts, lawyers and other consultants contracted by the Government since the financial crisis hit.
The State's spending watchdog revealed the bulk of the costs since 2008 went on financial advice at €35.1m, while legal and accountancy expertise combined accounted for €38m.
The Comptroller and Auditor General's (C&AG) annual report found advice on recapitalising and restructuring the State's six banks totalled almost €40m, peaking in 2009 at €14.2m.
The Government also had to pay out €22.9m this year to carry out stress tests on the banks in March, which revealed another €24bn was needed to keep them afloat, bringing the total bailout cost to €70bn.
The report also found overpayment of welfare payments increased by 65% last year to €83.4m.
Some €26m was blamed on fraud, but the C&AG said the Department of Social Protection could not provide a breakdown of how much money was recovered.
Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has revealed a clampdown on fraudsters, with an army of 600 inspectors set to track down social welfare cheats, aimed at saving the Exchequer €625m next year.
Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley went on to reveal the state has to pay up to €5.5m this year to contractors involved in the private public partnership (PPP) arrangement for the M3 and Limerick Tunnel.
The Government is obliged to pay the PPP company if traffic falls under a certain level.
Elsewhere on the banking front, the C&AG report found €2.4m has been spent on "crisis management" while €5.5m has been forked out on advice about nationalisation, liquidity and other issues.
Consultancy costs relating to Nama accounted for €2.6m while the inquiry into the banking crisis has cost €400,000.
The spending watchdog said the Global Irish Economic Forum - held in September 2009 and set to be replicated next month - cost €330,000, with site costs at Farmleigh accounting for the bulk of the money at €72,539.
Former US President Bill Clinton is due to address the next forum in October. The Department of Foreign Affairs has estimated the cost to be similar to the 2009 event despite an increased number of attendees.
The C&AG also found a new automated fingerprint identification system in the Garda Immigration Bureau cost €5m more than expected at €23.13m.
Mr Buckley's office said despite the new system, there are still a significant number of fingerprints being taken by gardaí using the manual "wet ink" system.
Meanwhile, almost €4bn from the National Pension Reserve Fund, invested in Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks, last year has been written off
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