Playing politics with the economy

THIS country is on course for creating a record among OECD countries for undergoing one of the most swingeing budget consolidation programmes over the past five years.

The bad news is that Ireland still faces many years of belt tightening following the ratification of the fiscal treaty in 2012.

But the scale of that adjustment depends on reaching the 3% budget deficit target agreed with the troika by 2015. After that, meeting future targets will depend on what level, if any, of growth returns to the economy.