No surprises, no budget U-turns, and no major sweeteners

UNVEILING the finance bill yesterday, Michael Noonan made the distinction between his version and those produced by his predecessor Charlie McCreevy, “when it was almost a second budget”.

This document had no major surprises, no budget U-turns, and no major sweeteners thrown in to win support from a hurting public. It was, the minister said, rather boringly outlining in more legal detail the measures announced by him on the floor of the Dáil last December.

Mr Noonan was trying to play down the significance of the legal document and avoid rekindling the angry debate about the austerity measures announced almost two months ago.