Sprinkling of tax cuts could be magic trick to secure election gold

AS with the final instalment of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Ring’s trilogy, it is Brian Cowen’s third budget that aims to tie up the loose ends and win the glittering prizes.

After the “champagne Charlie” theatrics of his predecessor Mr McCreevy, the current Finance Minister has tried to carve out an image for himself as a wise, prudent Gandalf figure, leading his people to safety and prosperity.

This being election year, a sprinkling of magic dust in the form of tax cuts was also felt necessary after the two rather more sober previous budgets. However, there was none of the give-away grandstanding of Mr McCreevy which so delighted voters in the run-up to polling day and so disappointed them when the reality set in once those votes had been counted.