What’s wrong with scrapping a few politicians to pay for medical cards?

THE authority of the Government has unquestionably been damaged by the medical cards controversy.

In these situations it is always as much cock-up as conspiracy, but there can be no doubt Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s intention was to unpick other universal, non-means-tested benefits in his next budget. He might now have to think twice.

To lose a needy Independent might be a blessing in disguise; one Fianna Fáil TD is a misfortune. More than that and it looks like carelessness. We are not in a 1982 situation — when the government fell over VAT on children’s shoes — but political expediency might require that the gap between spending and revenue be plugged in other ways, even though the moral case for targeting benefits is a strong one. If further U-turns are to be avoided, the ground is going to have to be prepared much better in advance next time.