Ministers: Do as we say, not as we do

GOVERNMENT ministers never tire of telling us that public spending decisions are about setting priorities, never more so than when an economy is recovering from recession and fiscal prudence demands that the mistakes of the past must not be repeated.

It was only a week or so ago that Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe was alerting the country to the dangers of unsustainable spending growth, and the Taoiseach was heard to say: “If the economy continues to grow at the rate it is growing now, I think we would have to consider not spending all of the resources available to us.” Wise words, but let us look at some of the ways in which the government is spending its money — which is, of course, our money — this week.