Government will make tough decisions, says Taoiseach

Taoiseach Brian Cowen is adamant that Government will not sit back and allow difficult decisions to be deferred.

Cowen was speaking as part of a Fianna Fáil webcast last night in which he warned that as tough as the forthcoming Budget will be - even further adjustments are needed.

The Fianna Fáil leader said that borrowing €500m a week to run the country is not an option anymore.

Cowen says such tough decisions are in everyone's interest in the long term.

"We don't want to see a period of stagnation. We saw that in the past in the 80s when difficult decisions were deferred" he said.

"That's not the intention of the Government to allow that to happen".

"The adjustments we've made this year will be followed along with another Budget - but people need to know that taking these corrections now enables us to bring growth back into the economy, recreate employment and confidence and ensure that we can come back to what we have achieved before."