Government faces €3.5bn Budget deficit

THE Government faces a deficit of up to €3.5bn next year, final pre-Budget figures indicated last night.

The official final round-up for 2002 and projections for the coming year increase expectations Mr McCreevy is preparing to present the country's toughest Budget in a decade next Wednesday.

But opposition politicians last night again slated the Finance Minister for frittering Ireland's boom years through mismanagement a problem he now wishes to address with a short, sharp, shock correction. Sources last night indicated there will be no reversal of the tough policies started in the 2003 spending estimates published earlier this month and which keep spending growth down to 2%.