I HAVE to tell you something.

I TOOK an additional few days off over Christmas and I think it must be affecting me.

WHAT actually happened?

EACH year at this time, I see it as my duty to tell you what’s going to happen next year.

WELL now, who went up in your estimation this year? And who went down?

IT may not really have sunk in yet.

AT the end of the year 2000 the pay and pensions bill for the public service was about €9 billion.

LILYBAEUM no longer exists.

SO, are we going to be as angry as this on budget night? Or are we going to show them that our country deserves better?

I THINK if I were a public servant today, I’d be mad as hell.