Noonan ‘no martinet’ as he vows to sticks to sums

FINANCE Minister, Michael Noonan found a seldom-used and cryptic noun to describe his approach to the budget when he told reporters yesterday, he was “no martinet”.

The word (deriving from 17th century French rather than the Fair of Glin) means he is not a strict disciplinarian, or someone who sticks rigidly to rules. “I’m not ideological, I was just good at arithmetic when I was in primary school,” he said.

Roughly translated, he was trying to get the message across that he is not bound by the €3.1bn in budget cuts that have previously been agreed. Nor is he ideologically fixated when it comes to imposing austerity or “cutting for the sake of it”, as Labour party leader, Eamon Gilmore, put it.