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OPINION:WHEN BRIAN Lenihan gets to his feet to deliver his budget speech on Wednesday, it will quickly become clear the Government has indeed lived up to its promise and delivered the harsh measures it has promised for many months – €4 billion in savings in the public purse, a key component of which is a €1.3 billion cut in the public sector pay bill, writes HARRY McGEE

In normal circumstances, Government would hail it as a triumph. Well-trailed as this austerity budget has been, it is still very difficult to translate aspiration into reality. And, unlike the Charlie Haughey-led governments of the early 1980s, here is an administration that did not blink when it came to making the really hard decisions.