Reform policies endorsed: Welcome praise

Yesterday’s Financial Times suggestion that European economies still struggling with the consequences of recession should look to Ireland as an example of what can be achieved by confronting problems head on and unemotionally is a reassuring argument for persisting with the policies that have brought us this far. 

The FT judgement  is also an endorsement of the kind of reform we have embraced and a powerful argument  for continuing that process on a  permanent basis.

Even if that welcome assessment must be tempered  by the news that Dublin has fallen to 70th place in a league of 83 cities regarded as global financial centres - the city ranked 10th in 2009 -  it is a recognition of the pragmatism and sacrifice needed to get to this point, one that seemed very remote even a year ago.

As next year's budget  dominates the political ahead of next month's announcements  the recognition must encourage those who would argue that we should not