Reality gets ignored in latest strategy

The new Department of Finance strategy is an attempt to convince the public that it knows how to run the country.

It involves putting forward five strategic goals to solve the nation’s economic and social ills. It then provides a new model for a managerial shake-up in the department. It finishes with a back-slapping exercise on the Government’s achievements in office and re-states its existing policies in the appendix.

The plan has five goals: Economic growth; improved standard of living; better public finances; returning to the markets for borrowing; and completion of the restructuring of the banks. Despite international evidence, “quality of life” is not a priority.