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OPINION:Short-sighted profligacy has seen social welfare costs rocket – McCarthy-type cuts are inevitable but the Government needs to engineer a trade-off between economic benefit and possible social unrest, writes MICHAEL CASEY

THE MOST critical decision confronting the Government relates to social welfare spending cuts. As Colm McCarthy’s report pointed out, expenditure on social welfare has reached €22 billion a year, or 38 per cent of total spending of €58 billion. It is simply too big to ignore.