Taoiseach ‘too scared’ to publish cuts

BRIAN COWEN was accused yesterday of being too scared to present a €5 billion cuts package to the Dáil.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the Taoiseach was deliberately waiting for the Oireachtas to rise for its long summer break this week before “selectively leaking” parts of the long- awaited An Bord Snip Nua report.

In angry exchanges in the last Leaders’ Questions before the Dáil returns in September, Mr Gilmore accused the Taoiseach of “dither and incompetence” over the delayed appearance of the report on cuts and the failure of the Government to work out legislation to create the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), which is supposed to soak up €90bn of toxic land deals with taxpayers’ money.