Michael Noonan has said the IMF recommendation to have a residential property tax at .5% is simply a recommendation and not an instruction to government regarding policy.
Minister Noonan also revealed that he only just found out from IMF officials that the word 'gullible' has been removed from the Oxford English Dictionary, but felt that the recommendation to look for himself was not an instruction to look, though the suggestion was admittedly a learned and eminent one, given it was from the IMF, the saviour of Greece, Argentina and Zambia, and that he would take it on board nonetheless.
In response to this news, the Labour Party has indicated that this and other cuts to education will be resisted vigorously, at least until Eamon Gilmore says otherwise, or FG backwoodsm....backbenchers get their 'all important' abortion vote.
In the meantime, the only Croke Park renegotiation will be between Galway and Kilkenny, a more civilized affair altogether. However, the attendance of so many politicians at recent GAA fixtures in an attempt to appear like normal people, means that, to paraphrase the great P.J. O'Rourke, we might get a few on to the field (we'll tell them there's an allowance down there for them or something) and maybe, juuuuust maybe, the Tribesmen and the Cats might knock some sense into the silly bastards.
