Take a machete to local goverment, not health

On Tuesday I met twoUS investors in Dublin to discuss the state of the economy and to try and flesh out what recovery prospects are like.

These two individuals control a considerable amount of money, some of which is already invested in Ireland.

The important thing, though, is that they are very positively disposed towards Ireland and are potentially interested in further investment. Their positivity is based on a view that Ireland is very different to countries such as Greece and Portugal. This view is predicated on the belief that the Irish reacted very quickly to the crisis that really commenced in earnest in 2008 and have taken a lot of fiscal pain without any meaningful adverse reaction from the political system or indeed from the population at large. They are not naïve and fully recognise that pain is being felt across Irish society, but they equally recognise that we have to and are willing to put our public finances back on a sustainable footing and lay the foundations for a meaningful and more sustainable economic recovery whenever that comes.