Precision required

Taoiseach Enda Kenny stirred up a hornets’ nest when he complained at Davos that “people simply went mad borrowing” in this country.

Not everybody went mad borrowing. Some young couples had to borrow to buy a modest home. They may now be victims of negative equity, and have trouble meeting their mortgage repayments, because they lost part of their incomes in the economic downturn, through no fault of their own.

Blaming them would seem grossly unfair, but then Mr Kenny has clarified that he was not referring to such people. No doubt he understands their reaction to his criticism, because some of the criticism of him has been over the top, too.

When leaders publicly blame others, it is necessary that they should be precise. In this case there was a distinct lack of precision in his comments.

Had he specified that he was referring only to “some” people there would have been no fuss.

Politicians often get into terrible trouble for using four-letter words, so it is ironic that the Taoiseach has been savaged on this occasion for not using a four-letter word — “some”.