Bailout row - Clarity not confusion is needed

DISCORD among Government ministers on the thorny question of whether the country will need another financial bailout package next year to survive its fiscal crisis is particularly worrying at a time when Cabinet members ought to be singing loudly and convincingly from the same hymn sheet.

Inevitably, any hint of dissonance within the Coalition on such a sensitive matter is bound to stir the rumour factory and lead to misinterpretation and confusion in notoriously volatile financial markets. Inevitably, it could also increase the burden already bearing down on the weary shoulders of hard-pressed taxpayers.

In a perturbing instance of discord in Government circles, both Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Finance Minister Michael Noonan have been forced to issue swift denials of speculation by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar that Ireland may have to return to the IMF and the European institutions in 2012 for a further bailout.