Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

He continues, "This usually means that the Government is accused of being obsessed with "balancing the books" to the detriment of other, more important, considerations." He points out that nearly all such measures would require additional borrowing from international markets when we are already borrowing to the hilt, and concludes: "At the end of the day, we must bear in mind the lesson of the 1980s and 1990s which is simply that there is no substitute for fiscal common sense as the essential backbone of growth and prosperity." Recognition of that reality while pursuing the smart economy is the bedrock of what the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Government are trying to achieve. It was the successful financial retrenchment of the late 1980s that first made the great leap forward of the Celtic tiger possible.

The Government is drawing on the best advice available to it. I welcome the entry into the political arena, on the other side, of a nationally known economic journalist who was beginning to find too onerous the requirements of maintaining objectivity and impartiality on the national broadcasting station. I would not be inclined to quibble too much over any slight messiness in the transition. As someone who, in 1981, had to resign - without any prospect of a way back - his position as a permanent civil servant, where political impartiality is equally required, in order to work in the political sphere, I am torn between regarding the right of return, albeit to a less high-profile position-----

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