Former finance ministers were ‘intoxicated joyriders’

THREE former Fianna Fáil finance ministers were yesterday branded “intoxicated joyriders” for their role in incentivising speculative building and borrowing.

Speaking at the annual Michael Collins commemoration at Béal na mBláth in west Cork, founding president of the University of Limerick Dr Ed Walsh said Bertie Ahern, Charlie McCreevy and Brian Cowen had permitted uncontrolled expansion of the public sector, doubling the cost to the taxpayer.

“For electoral gain, they dislocated central government by attempting to dispatch parts of it to favoured regional constituencies,” Dr Walsh said.