Our tax burden is one of the lowest in the EU — and that’s the truth

A LONG, long time ago, when you and I were young, I wrote a column here about the myths and mantras of Irish politics.

It was my feeble attempt to change the way things might be looked at, and it fell on the deafest of deaf ears. I called them M&Ms, and I tried to talk about the health warning that should always be attached to a myth, or a mantra. Just because it’s said with a self-important air, and repeated ad nauseam, doesn’t mean it’s true.

The PDs were starting to be in the ascendancy then, and the core myth they created was being repeated like a mantra, day after day, by their acolytes in Fianna Fáil. You may remember their myth — although actually, you don’t need to, because it has now been elevated into an article of faith.