Cowen forfeits credit

LAZARUS has arisen. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Yes, the Taoiseach’s speech last Thursday evening to Dublin Chamber of Commerce was significant and he duly deserved the ovation he received.

Even the opposition paid tribute to his performance, but having listened to him on the Marian Finucane show last Saturday morning for almost 40 minutes one got the sinking feeling Lazarus had once again passed away.

People were rightly furious as they contacted the show to express their disgust at the Taoiseach’s defence of the Bank of Ireland decision to award a 3.5% pay rise when ordinary citizens are expected to shoulder a burden created, as many see it, by banks and others.