FG: Cowen sleepwalking though crisis

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen was accused of “sleepwalking” through the economic crisis last night after admitting he was unaware until last Tuesday the exact nature of devastating exchequer figures.

The monthly figures indicated that tax revenues would fall €3 billion below target this year, and at its meeting the same day, the Cabinet immediately decided to introduce a new budget at its meeting the same day to deal with the black hole. Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Mr Cowen said “it wasn’t exactly that we were caught by surprise” by the figures given the backdrop of a global recession. But asked exactly when he knew the figures were so bad, he replied: “We’d know on the morning of the cabinet meeting, which was Tuesday.”

When it was suggested to him that he should have got interim updates, he said: “No, you don’t get updates on a weekly basis because a lot of the payments that come in are end-of-month payments, so you don’t get an accurate figure until the end of each month.”