Benchmarking endangers Celtic Tiger

THE Celtic Tiger is not dead and gone it is merely limping. But to deliver on public pay hikes promised under benchmarking would make it extinct.

Ireland can look forward to growth of between 4% and 4.5% over the next year. But this can only be achieved if the right policy decisions are taken, one of the country's leading economists has warned.

"Controlling of public spending is necessary and cannot be indiscriminate. We have to target spending carefully as well as targeting cut-backs. We can't strip money out of public capital.