Bruton accuses Cowen of doing too little too late

OPPOSITION parties accused Finance Minister Brian Cowen of allowing the economy to slide and then failing to take the necessary budgetary measures to deal with the consequences.

Fine Gael finance spokes-man Richard Bruton said the minister was doing too little too late to deal with the housing market slump and falls in tax revenue and had taken the soft option of borrowing belatedly to address the problems.

“He has taken a €4 billion surplus and turned it into a €2bn deficit. It’s some achievement for a minister for finance to have squandered all that money and have nothing to show for it.”