Bertie a socialist? Now, even his promises are being cut back

YESTERDAY’s Book of Estimates, as an indicator of what could eventually emerge from this neo-socialist Government’s Budget, must come as a great relief to the Progressive Democrats.

It shows that Bertie Ahern didn’t even have a close shave with socialism, and Fianna Fáil, to paraphrase the U2 song, still hasn’t found what Bertie is looking for.

Maybe he was looking up the notorious trees in North Dublin, but there was not a sign of anything that appeared in the Estimates to remotely suggest that it was influenced by a committed socialist.