State needs €150bn to beat recession

THE Government will need to find €150 billion over the next five years to steer the country out ofrecession — the equivalent of doubling the current tax take.

Professor Brian Lucey, who was speaking at a business lunch in Cork yesterday, said the country is not in danger of going bankrupt this year, but 2010 is a different story if the economic situation isn’t rectified.

“We face a generational challenge in relation to the public finances which if not sorted out will take us to a place worse than the 1980s,” Prof Lucey said.