Time for us all to work together to dig ourselves out of mess

LET"S hope and pray that it works. Only time will tell if Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan"s crisis Budget yesterday (Tuesday) will rescue Ireland from financial ruin or plunge us into the claws of the dreaded International Monetary Fund (IMF). At the time of going to press yesterday, Mr Lenihan was to announce the details of imposing extra taxes and spending cuts worth around €3.5 billion. This week, the international markets will be analysing if the sick-man-of Europe Irish patient can be resuscitated back to good health over a four-year framework. As for Taoiseach Brian Cowen"s request that all Ministers of State resign so that he can reappoint a reduced number of them later this month (15 to 16 ministers), the figures still remain too high. They could have been reduced to 11 or 12. And this is a Taoiseach who had to be brought kicking and screaming over the past few months to make such a decision, albeit reluctantly, on reducing the ridiculous high number of over expensive, unnecessary junior ministers. However, most importantly, Brian Cowen must change the way Fianna Fail does business in the future. This week, he said he would look at things in the economy in the long term. This is positive - if he means what he says. For far too long, Fianna Fail was a party of short-term decision-making when it came to financial issues where government ministers would reap rewards. And how miserably this failed, especially during the housing boom years when Bertie Ahern and Mr Cowen and Co spent like drunken sailors and threw all caution to the wind. And let"s not forget the Greens. The Irish taxpayer is entitled to have their money spent on practical projects and services within communities, as opposed to it being squandered on questionable, some would say woolly environmental proposals lacking in merit during a time when the Irish economy rests on a razor"s edge. In a nutshell, all efforts to enhance our economy begins at home, by way of fair taxes, public spending and necessary cutbacks. This budget must attract more people to shop in the republic. The amount of money going up North is not worth thinking about. Shoppers will say: 'Why should I tighten my belt and pay more down south when the Government are still being paid the highest salaries in Europe?" But back to the worst and best case scenarios: If Mr Cowen"s budget fails, then the prospect of national bankruptcy seems certain and the IMF would have to be called in to sort things out. It has been said that when economists want to frighten their children with bedtime stories, they read them the history of the IMF. But if this budget and further economic planning succeeds, then we should learn a lot from how it all went wrong and how to put it right should it ever happen again. The Government owes the Irish people an apology for getting us into the bulk of this mess. But as they don"t do apologies, we"ll all have to work together to dig ourselves out of this crisis.