It’s not our fault, but we’re paying a heavy price for their economic mess

YOU’RE not responsible for the crisis — but you’re sure as hell going to pay for it, is probably the most succinct way to summarise the Taoiseach’s hotly anticipated state of the nation address.

In fact, in drafting his speech, Mr Kenny seems to have cut a few corners. Namely, studying the late Brian Lenihan’s previous budget speeches and then announcing the exact opposite — so, we haven’t turned a corner, there was no party, we’re not all to blame and the worst isn’t over.

It wasn’t so much a message of hope as, well, the exact opposite — a bald admission that the country is banjaxed and likely to remain so for the foreseeable. But, don’t worry, he said, we’re all in the mire together. Although the stink of manure is far more pronounced from some.