Taoiseach readies himself for take-off

The opening of Terminal 2 failed to lift spirits, says Scott Millar.

IT was looking terminal — DAA terminal 2 that is — for Brian Cowen’s premiership yesterday as he opened the Celtic Tiger era’s final piece of infrastructure with an acceptance the country was about to enter a multi-billion euro IMF “support programme”.

The Taoiseach ended days, possibly years of denial of the real state of the economy, provoking one international financial commentator to declare Ireland had began its “12-step programme to return to financial health”.