Moving to a Quarterly Budget

Those who were left with the fallout from Bertie Ahern’s ten years in office, namely Cowen and Lenihan, were probably impressed by the production value of the Bertie documentary series last night - if nothing else. The programme was exceptionally well put together and surpassed what I had expected it to be. It wasn’t reliant on journalists to tell the story, it had all the main players bar Celia Larkin. The interviews were even combative in parts. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it is the first draft of historical perspectives on Bertie part drafted by himself.

Yet to what extent it analyses our current situation in light of the past ten years is an interesting point. Ahern presided over a government that couldn’t or wouldn’t say no. Money being spent was, and remains, vital for the health of this country, economy and society. The manner in which some was spent, shrinking the tax base and ramping up spending was on the whole unsustainable. The inflated property bubble allowed the numbers to add up but it was not for long.

Now Brain Brian Lenihan is forced into admitting embarrasingly that we may have another mini-budget again soon to rectify our budgetary shortfall. The EU is annoyed with us and P O Neill has raised the point that we may be wearing out our welcome in Brussles with our behaviour. They are starting proceedings against us for our deficit of 6.5% breaching the EU max by some way. At this rate, we are moving toward quarterly budgets to coincide with the horror statement of public finances.