NO MATTER WHERE YOU TURN your radio dial and no matter what page you turn to in an Irish Sunday broadsheet, you get coverage of cuts to the national budget, cuts to State services, cuts to jobs, and cuts to wages. It's hard to believe that any more cuts can be made to household incomes because even those with three homes to heat have taken a beating. The two local men who used to land their helicopters in their back gardens now have to drive themselves around town instead of flying off to Cheltenham for messages. The Irish government is trying to take populist positions such as charging a EUR 200,000 levy on tax exiles instead of offering reduced tax rates for foreign nationals who come to Ireland to run companies and hire employees. There's a direct link between giving an Intel or Microsoft executive a tax-free status on income earned in Ireland and getting high-flying CEOs to relocate to Ireland. But that kind of thinking is well beyond the faculties of Mary Coughlan, Ireland's Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
#cuts All across the Sunday broadsheets, stories cover ministerial pay cuts, public sector pay cuts, excise cuts, and cuts in services. The infrastructure projects that remain will serve commuters well.
#frugality Movie-lovers are flocking to cinema in record numbers as the recession bites. [2] Adrian Weckler offers some helpful pointers to game consoles for Christmas shoppers. Both the XBox 360 and the Sony PS3 figure in our plans.
#vision It comes as no surprise to many people that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment failed to articulate a clear vision for stimulating the Irish economy. Minister Coughlan fails to understand the idea that stimulus can be a way towards balancing the books by creating a revenue stream. [3]
1. Cuts feature in three of the four front page items in the Sunday Business Post today.
2. Lynne Kelleher and Jan Battles -- "Ireland's great escape" in the Sunday Times, 13 Dec 09.
3. Aine Coffey -- "Too Little, Too Late" in the Focus section of the Sunday Times, 13 Dec 09.
