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OPINION:The emergency Budget was seriously misconceived and our existing politics are incapable of resolving our problems. We are in dire need of political realignment and valued-based politics that eschews cronyism, writes RAY KINSELLA.

THE GLOBAL economic crisis, as it is manifest in the wasteland of what was once the Celtic Tiger, is now entering a final and arguably devastating phase. Our political institutions and systems of governance are coming under inexorable pressure in the face of inadequate policy responses to the rise in unemployment, the decimation of the domestic economy, and a palpable feeling of quite desperation among individuals and families and businesses.