Borrowed money was heavy baggage

LABOUR’S finance spokesperson Joan Burton went into a post-budget tirade about how the budget would not enable people to shop more.

She compared walking down Grafton Street a few years ago with today. Back then, she remarked, you would see people walking down the street with several bags of shopping, whereas today you would be lucky to see them with one.

Does she not grasp the reason why we are in this crisis today, is because those people were spending money they did not have? It was borrowed money, much of it borrowed from the release of equity in property with hugely inflated prices and the reason they are not spending now is because firstly, there is no more money to borrow and secondly, all of the borrowed money must now be paid back. It is worrying that a possible successor to Brian Lenihan cannot or will not see this.