We’ve dug deep holes in a circle that cannot be squared

THE bank holiday break should have given ministers opportunity to consider medium-term viability prospects rather than short term hyperactivity.

Their hectic schedules don’t give them time to think, with up to eighteen daily appointments. They should reflect on the cumulative effect of contradictory hostages to fortune they have given over the past three months. These are Programme for Government commitments; refusal to burn senior bank bondholders; assurance of no sovereign ‘default’ and pledge not to seek a further EU/IMF bailout.

Their repeated assertion that the bailout terms are being adhered to so far is a measure of the work of the FF/Green budget of last November. At a minimum they have to procure €3.6bn in budget deficit reductions in 2012 alone. They have yet to affect any fiscal correction measures themselves. Post-election promises in the Programme for Government are unsustainable. Perilous declarations include: