Budget reaction - Taxpayers will pay for profligacy

GIVEN the Government’s record of profligacy in the realm of public spending, there was a bitter taste of irony about Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy’s Budget reminder of the need for moderation.

As he faces up to the challenge of stopping the slide, restoring public finance and hauling the economy back on track, the minister is being disingenuous in attributing the country’s current economic troubles solely to the global downturn.

Having put electoral gain before the national interest during the Coalition’s pre-election vote-buying spree, Mr McCreevy seems to have gone into denial about the administration’s mismanagement of the economy, almost as if he was an innocent bystander.