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Wed 12 Dec 2009Decks cleared for budget
ANALYSIS:THE COLLAPSE of the pay talks has put the Minister for Finance in a strong position and increased the certainty surrounding today’s budget. We can now be fairly certain that the vast bulk, perhaps all, of the €4 billion deficit-reduction package will come from cuts in spending, writes PAT McARDLE
The situation regarding future budgets was even more uncertain. In essence, the unions failed to realise real pay cuts were required. Moreover, the productivity improvements offered for future years have been bought and paid for many times over, not least in benchmarking. This lack of realism and the insensitivity of some comments provoked the sleeping beast of the general public.
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