Is this the end of the welfare state?

It was refreshing to hear Taoiseach Enda Kenny acquaint the public with an eternal truism, in his announcement of the Government’s new jobs strategy and attitude to long-term welfare payments (Jul 18) — ‘there is nothing for nothing’, he said.

Could this mean the end of welfarism, the dominant political philosophy and vote-catcher of the last 35 years, since Fianna Fáil had to regain its ‘natural position’ in power in 1977 and gave us free car-tax , no local revenue, etc?

The welfare budget, and the constituency it spawned, have been the key route to success for left-wing and populist parties like FF, SF, Labour and the majority of Independents, ever since.