Charlie's gamble is a non-runner

What a dog's dinner. You would have thought with all the brouhaha over the "inequitable" Budget crashing down around their ears, the Government would have chosen either to take a step back from individualisation or stuck fast to its guns.

Not this charlie. Facing a chorus of disapproval from backbenchers to say nothing of posturing by the Independents, a backlash from both Mna na hEireann and Mother Church and a walkout by SIPTU from national partnership talks, he opted to backtrack and offer an allowance to some stay-at-home mums (or dads) and other carers. Those with adult children or none at all, however, still get nothing.

To placate the unions further, he has upped social welfare provisions. The net effect is that, the price for Mr McCreevy's political ivite naivety is an extra £250 million (€318 million) on top of the largest Budget cash giveaway of all time.

Worse, he is not out of the woods yet. The unions are still rumbling and his position is increasingly under pressure after a Budget which promised to help the lower paid only to widen the existing gap between the better and worse off. Well might he say he'd had better weeks.