All in all, the budget should be viewed reasonably positively from an economic perspective, but there will be negative social consequences.

However, the best contribution the Government could make to the social agenda would be to get the economy growing in a sustainable way as quickly as possible.

Despite the harsh nature of the budget, there is still a lot of pain to come and we can be certain that this time next year, we will be struggling to come up with another €4 billion in fiscal adjustment.

There is no choice however, and at least the Minister is now addressing the key issues in a reasonably strong manner.

Click here for Jims full Budget Commentary

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