Budget 2010 - Very tough medicine for tough times

WE have known for some time that yesterday’s budget would be brutal and that it would do more to reduce the living standards of Irish families and workers than any budget in living memory.

Even though Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan were no more than true to their word the scale of the cuts was jarring. They naturally provoked anger amongst those who invested so much effort and integrity in last week’s failed pay talks.

Indeed, it is difficult to remember a set of measures so dramatic, so desperate in recent European history.