TAOISEACH Brian Cowen needs to mobilise public opinion if the exchequer deficit is to be tackled and the shoots of economic recovery are to yield jobs, stability and opportunity.

The association representing soldiers, sailors and aircrew of the Defence Forces, have called on the Government to re-affirm that the cuts to their Budget will be limited.

EFFORTS to tackle the state’s spiralling drugs bill will see patients on medication facing a double hit.

RATHER like a terminal illness, no matter how rational the expectation, the final act is somewhat shocking. This budget was comprehensively leaked to the media over the past week.

ISME, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, has called on the Government to extend the Employment Subsidy Scheme by allowing all small and medium businesses to avail of the support.

AWARD-WINNING actor Brendan Gleeson has warned a multi-million euro film he plans to shoot here next year will collapse if An Bord Snip Nua recommendations about the Irish Film Board are implemented.

THE Irish economy is slowly moving out of the deep depression triggered by a combination of the property slump and the global credit crunch.

A 20% cut in the Fás budget could be used to help fund the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) and other productive programmes, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association says.

CONGRATULATIONS to Ryle Dwyer, (October 3) on a powerful article.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has glossed over cracks in his cabinet’s budgetary strategy and the credibility it attached to cuts proposed by An Bord Snip Nua.

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern says he has “the wit” to find another way of saving money rather than closing 350 Garda stations.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen today rejected claims that the Government is in disarray following remarks made by the Tánaiste in the Dáil yesterday.

The Tánaiste, Mary Coughlan, has rejected opposition claims that the Government is in disarray over how to stabilise the public finances.

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan has refused to identify which elements of the Bord Snip report she believes “don’t make sense”.

NEW research shows that Irish culture is a big money spinner for the economy, generating €11.8 billion in revenues last year and accounting for 7.6% of total GNP.

IS it just me or has the whole world gone mad?

FARMERS have often been accused, and with good reason, of crying wolf over the state of Ireland’s agri-industry.

Employers' body ISME has today reiterated its call for the Government introduce public sector wage cuts, despite the economy returning to price inflation.

SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams has called for an immediate general election, saying the Government should seek a new mandate for its controversial proposals.

The chairman of An Bord Snip Nua has said anyone who thinks widespread cutbacks can be avoided is out of touch with reality.

THE cost of the day- to-day running of the Oireachtas has more than doubled since 2004 while the number of civil servants has increased by more than a third.

CHRISTMAS boxes which military families send to Irish soldiers serving abroad with the UN are the latest to come under threat from cutbacks.

A REPORT to Government recommending the introduction of property and carbon taxes will be published next Monday.

GAA PRESIDENT Christy Cooney is hopeful that planned talks with the Gaelic Players Association can be successfully completed by the end of September.

THIS week’s report into the lack of competitiveness in the economy made for grim reading against the backdrop of the financial pressures facing the country and the difficulties surrounding Liam Carroll’s crumbling property empire.

THE number of people applying for cadet posts in the defence forces has jumped by 100% in the past year, with one-quarter of applications coming from college graduates.

BRIAN COWEN and Bertie Ahern should be summoned before a televised Oireachtas inquiry to explain their role in the banking crisis, Government politicians have said.

ALL senior public servants, including hospital consultants, will have to see cuts in their pay, a senior Government minister has said.

The Department of Finance has reportedly written to all other government departments telling them to draw up a list of cutbacks totalling €3bn by the middle of next month.

THE head of Bord Snip Nua was paid nearly €800 a day while drawing up its hit list of “savage” cuts in public services.

THE Bord Snip report showed no trace of a social conscience when it targeted €1.8bn in welfare cuts. There are more than 410,000 people unemployed and it’s feared the figure could reach 500,000 over the course of next year.

Apparently, we are going to start with a current market value and then add on an expectant premium to reflect future prospects. That may sound plausible, but it’s fiction. Nobody knows what future property prices will be, when they might recover and to what extent

THE Government borrows €400m every week.

OLYMPIC Council of Ireland (OCI) President Pat Hickey last night warned that Irish hopes of medal glory at the London Games in three years’ time will be ‘a complete flop’ if proposed cuts to sports funding are implemented.

THE cruellest cuts of all have been to the overseas development assistance budget.

A NUMBER of drug projects will be shut down if funding cuts proposed in Bord Snip are implemented.

The number of TDs should be reduced by 20, according to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny who said he was “deeply concerned” about proposals in the Bord Snip report to cut social welfare payments by 5%.

COLM McCARTHY is a wily old fox. From past involvement in the late 1980s, he learned the mechanics of Government finances. Every year an annual ritual commences in early summer. Each line department submits its proposed budgetary outline for the following year. A series of bilateral meetings then takes place with dedicated officials in the Department of Finance. This arm wrestle usually involves incremental adjustment for inflation and the occasional initiative.

Economist and chairman of An Bord Snip Nua Colm McCarthy has been invited to appear before a joint Oireachtas Committee.

THE future of regional airports such as Kerry, Galway and Donegal are again in the spotlight after the Bord Snip report said they should no longer benefit from state funding.

THE chairman of Bord Snip has rejected claims its €5.3 billion cost-saving package was an attack on rural Ireland.

AN Bord Snip Nua recommends “substantial reductions in the public service obligation (PSO) payments made to CIÉ, reflecting the need for major efficiencies across its cost base”.

FARMERS sold land and made lots of money.

THE Bord Snip part was the easy bit.