Cowen plays asteady hand
17th Nov 2006, 07:42 GMT
Looked at from a top-down perspective, yesterday's abridged Estimates are a modestly good start to the budgetary process. Having ramped up spending before the last election, fears that the Government would use next month's Budget to engineer a pre-election binge were entirely justified. But if Brian Cowen's approach in December is consistent with the plans announced yesterday to increase spending by 8 per cent, then those fears will be laid to rest.
Latest news from The Irish Times' Opinion Top Stories:
- Stabilising the property market
- Science Week
- Accessorise with a child in new Ireland
- The importance of Christian memory
- Analysing the way we are now
- An Irishman's Diary
- The rights of a child
- The Curtin case
- Good public services require investment
- Judgment is evidence of invisible status of the child