GNP growth targets are fanciful at best, deceitful at worst

IRELAND’S domestic economy is a bit like Raftery the poet: its back to the wall, playing music to empty pockets.

There is nothing in this budget to stimulate growth, making the Gross National Product (GNP) growth targets in this budget and the National Recovery Plan 2011-14 fanciful at best, deceitful at worst.

This undermines the entire budget. If the growth targets are not met, then the anticipated tax yield will not materialise. It looks like the dunces of Merrion Street have got their sums wrong again and this time we will pay, sooner or later, by having to default on our burgeoning national debt.