Savage cutbacks are a deliberate power play for the next election

WE are about to discover the importance of public spending to Irish life. That’s the real, but largely ignored, story of Budget 2003.

Every area of Irish life affected by public spending is about to face a major crisis or, alternatively, about to undergo fundamental change.

It will happen in the course of the next 12 months, and the crises that are generated will: (a) be caused by the Government; (b) have very deep ramifications for our social and economic capacity, and (c) be totally unnecessary.