Government must come clean on cuts deception

THE launching of a full scale investigation to discover who leaked a secret document foreshadowing cuts of 900 million in public spending is yet another sign of a government more concerned with shooting the messenger than coming clean on its cynical policy of deliberately misleading voters in the run up to the general election.

As spelled out in these columns yesterday, the buck does not stop with Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy. Clearly the decision to mislead the electorate comes down to a fundamental principle of collective responsibility and both Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tánaiste Mary Harney must also carry the can.

Plainly, the Progressive Democrats, who campaigned on slogans based on the notion of honest government, must bear a large measure of responsibility for the duplicity of the outgoing administration.