Matt Cooper (Opinion, Feb 1) asserts that I have been silent on the killing of Garda Jerry McCabe for 17 years and that I was forced into my statement in the Dáil.

THE country is gearing up for one of the harshest budgets we have seen in a long time. This summer has produced the Bord Snip report, the Commission on Taxation report and the NAMA legislation is before the Dáil.