Finlay needs more impartiality

Wonder of wonders, Fergus Finlay is acclaiming the departure of the Troika as an achievement of Government, and wonder of wonders, he blames Fianna Fáil for all our economic woes, and, oddly enough, I disagree with him — not on his broad assessments, but on the subtle context in which he places his political prejudices.

Here are some facts we should not forget: Charlie McCreevy was absolutely reckless in driving up public spending, and the FF/PD cabinet was equally reckless in not reining him in.

The largest element of the McCreevy spend was in old age pensions, children’s allowance, and social welfare generally, and in capital to complete the motorways. Labour, then in opposition, criticised the social welfare spending as being too little.