IN ATTEMPTING to be all things to all men, women too, Government reminds of a person sitting on a toilet hoping to overcome the pangs of constipation but achieving only in breaking wind.
It smacks of the old adage mutton dressed as lamb.
The devil is always in the detail and most will not have got as far as ploughing into that one but we did note that one particular promised spend was lauded by anyone wearing a Government jersey.
It reminds of a possible scene from 2009 when a song called Leap Up and Down wave your knickers in the air was popular.
In trumpeting free school books for primary school children (a great move) Government put its safety net in place.
The pre-Christmas present won’t see the light of day at Yule 2022 but is promised for September 2003.
Someone had heard of the Spanish word Manana, meaning tomorrow.
As we know, for many people, tomorrow never comes.
Impression being pushed is that massive money is being ploughed into the pockets of our people.
Cloudy skies here too.
Reality is that money is being distributed to the poor, the not so poor and the wealthy (never forget the buddies) but it is merely a drop in the ocean of inflation.
A HOT AND COLD BUDGET
The social welfare hike of €12 along with a handful of lump sums will merely be sops as the cost of energy continues to soar and could (maybe that should be will) wreak havoc.
It is a kind of hot and cold budget or maybe a hot or cold project as inflation knocks the stuffing out of what the Government will call generous payments.
We will leave the nitty gritty of the Budget to the number crunchers. From a distance the Budget could be termed a gamble as a harsh winter could mean families having to choose between heating a home or filling a hungry belly.
In the meantime vulture funds, who, by the way were invited into our country by Fine Gael, will have a beano.
Joe and Josephine Soap are once more up the creek without a paddle.
Big business will still have its fur coat.
Hopefully smaller business will survive on the leg up it will receive.
Our view is that the Budget is a cynical attempt to woo our people so that they will vote Government into office again.
It is a poor attempt at conning people, is badly disguised and could well achieve the opposite to what is obviously intended.
We would love to hear Kilkenny Press readers’ opinions on today’s show of dishing out our money.
