My appendix surgery aims to take some excess fat out of the system

SEPTEMBER 15. That’s the deadline the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance have given all their colleagues.

By that date, each member of the Government must have come up with cuts in their estimated spending for next year. And if they can’t, or won’t, the Government as a whole will be asked to adopt recommendations from Finance Minister Brian Lenihan. If ministers can’t cut their own budgets, Lenihan will do it for them.

That’s his job, of course, at times like this. And he’s in a no-win situation. He’s going to be branded as either heartless or weak as a consequence of the measures he takes in the next couple of months.