Paschal Donohoe: Sticking to spending plans will deliver more housing and better services

Calls to loosen the purse strings are hard to ignore in a time of surplus but we cannot risk a return to boom and bust spending 

Paschal Donohoe says more houses and better public services will be achieved by sticking to spending plans.

Despite the fact that 2008 is a decade and a half ago, the scars from that time, for many, have yet to fade.

That is why remarks made in recent days by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council — the State’s budgetary watchdog — that the Government’s spending plans risk “repeating the mistakes of the past” were noteworthy.