Cowen fires starting gun for election campaign

CHARLIE McCreevy always revelled in presenting the Department of Finance set-pieces. With the panache of a circus ring-master, McCreevy would present the figures with a swagger that left no room for false modesty.

His successor Brian Cowen yesterday provided a stark contrast of style. The Finance Minister’s announcement of the abridged Estimates for 2005 was low-key and understated. For weeks now, Cowen has been saying that his fiscal policies will do exactly what they say on the tin; that there would be significant increases for priority areas like health and education but that he wasn’t going to go mad. And that’s exactly what we got.

On the face of it, Cowen - to use baseball terminology - loaded the bases without actually scoring a home run. He was in the happy position of taking over his brief at a time when the economy is buoyant. The projected €2.8 billion deficit this year will be whittled down to only €700m by year’s end, thanks in part to the €670m windfall from the Revenue’s investigation of offshore accounts.