McCreevy's prediction of small surplus has a hollow ring

CHARLIE McCREEVY is doggedly sticking to his guns that the country will run a small surplus this year.

His insistence has a hollow ring given the downward review of the economy and the implications it has for the nation's finances in his own department's Economic Review and Outlook, published yesterday.

Whatever about the minister's insistence that the country will have a surplus at year end, it is virtually impossible to find an economist, not even the most optimistic types, who share his view.