Budget 2011 - Inequity will stymie hope of recovery

THIS afternoon we will know how Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and their IMF/ECB overseers plan to restore some sort of sanity to the finances of this angry and bankrupt country.

Each and every one of us, every family and business, must hope that their proposals work. Ireland simply cannot afford, economically, psychologically, or in terms of social unity or market perception, a repeat of last year’s failure when Mr Lenihan assured us that “the worst is over,” as he introduced a budget that cut €4 billion from the economy. A figure that seems quaint in today’s terms.

Hardly a household will avoid attention and some arrangements, especially social welfare payments and state pensions, traditionally thought untouchable, will be cut. None of this is as anyone would wish, indeed the sense of inequity and failure it will probably provoke may polarise society even more at the very moment when a sense of common purpose is essential. This, in the long run, may prove a greater challenge than our grim economic situation. Nevertheless we don’t have too many options.