Ahern wants public spending cut by €1bn

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has given three outside experts nine weeks to identify cutbacks of some €1 billion next year in efforts to control spiralling public spending.

The Cabinet has already agreed cuts across several departments, worth 300m euro for this year, as part of urgent corrective action. Last night, at its final meeting before the August summer holiday, the Cabinet appointed a three-person Expenditure Review Committee in a move which recalled the draconian cutbacks of ex-Finance Minister Ray MacSharry in 1987-89.

A similar committee during the MacSharry era became unaffectionately known as An Bórd Snip. The current group all have senior experience of managing the country’s finances and the 260,000-strong public service workforce but all are now outside the civil service.