Mr. Brian Cowen:

As it turned out, again this is a sort of a reflection by an economist after the event. But look let's ... I'm going to be straight and honest with you here, I mean ... put it this way, I'm not surprised there might be a difference of opinion between the fiscal council and the Minister for Finance going into the budget preparations this year. And that's a very legitimate variation of opinion by the way, I don't ... I don't see that as something either surprising or wrong. The Minister has ... and his Government have a programme that they want to set out there and they believe what they think is the room to manoeuvre and they'll use that and do that responsibly I'm sure, from their point of view. So that ... you know, we don't live in a technocracy here, we live in a democracy ... and you make decisions and you've to stand over those decisions. I've explained, going into that budget same as others, first of all the pre-budget submissions treated the very same as at any other time, courteously. We see what ... what it is they're talking about, can we assist in any way or can we not. Secondly, going into a budget ... look ... you're not going to be ... I'm not going to be foolish in front of the Irish public and say it's never a consideration in an election year, now let's just be honest about it and cut the nonsense.

By the same token I believe what we did was responsible and was required and warranted. There were pressures, wage pressures on the economy which were very strong, a very tight labour market situation. But I had made it clear earlier - and I made this point from ... when my budget in '05, if you want to look for consistency in my budget, it was about spreading the benefits of prosperity to as ... to more people. People were seeing a more prosperous Ireland, they were not exactly sure where they were fitting into it. And there were many people, including in whether they'd be in the public system or others, saying, "You can't do that this year, you can't do that, now is not the right time."

And there comes a point where you have to say, as a politician, "What do you want to achieve here, what do you want to do, who are the people you think need to get some of the benefits of this wealth that's being created?" And I was very clear where I stood. I mean if you want my political philosophy it can be reduced to four straightforward rules. Firstly, invest in education, skills and infrastructure to raise productivity to enhance competitiveness and protect prosperity. Secondly, reduce taxes to reward work, promote enterprise and spread the burden fairly across society. Thirdly, increase spending on services to improve the lives of our citizens, and fourthly, follow a prudent budgetary policy characterised by balanced budgets and falling debt burdens so that we can continue to spend on tax policies which will be sustainable over the longer run. That's what I did and it's about rewarding people for their effort, helping working families put more income directly into their pockets, promote social and economic inclusion, support enterprise and risk taking and, as regards tax reforms, increase opportunity for our citizens. Now what happened after that, we know we had to change tack, but that is ... that is ... that is what we were trying to do.