Budget 2009 - Nothing less than was expected

BRIAN LENIHAN ended his baptism-of-fire budget yesterday afternoon by saying his proposals were no less than a call to “patriotic action”.

Though he stopped short of promising we would fight on the beaches and on the streets, or that we would never surrender, there was a new and refreshing thread of something approaching a whiff of egalitarianism in the air. He, unlike some of his recent predecessors, repeatedly emphasised that our entire society is facing tremendous challenges and that every one of us has a role to play in confronting them.

He and his cabinet colleagues, along with some senior civil servants, took the opportunity to underline the gravity of our situation by taking a 10% pay cut.