Perhaps consideration of the Government's handling of the public finances should carry a Government health warning.

Certainly its handling of the abolition of the first-time buyer's grant is headache-inducing.

According to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, the abolition of the €3,610 payment to first-time buyers is no loss to such people, as it was of no benefit to them anyway. The money had "simply been absorbed into the increased profits of builders over the past five years", he told outraged TDs in the Dáil.

The Minister is probably right. Abolishing the grant is set to save the Exchequer €40 million in a full year and it could be argued that it is a good economic move. Whether it is a good political move is another matter.

However the decision of the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, that the grant will continue for first-time buyers in Gaeltacht areas is bizarre. If the measure does no good for first-time buyers, why keep it in areas where the first-time buyers have the cúpla focail?

When the Fianna Fail parliamentary party met during the week and discussed the issue, a range of TDs stood up to condemn the move, with some of them criticising Mr McCreevy for saying the first-time buyer's grant made little difference in the context of the overall cost of a property.

And then the Minister for the Gaeltacht, Mr Ó Cúiv, praised Mr McCreevy for letting the grant remain in place for first-time buyers from the Gaeltacht. Whether he was speaking on behalf of grateful buyers of an céad teach or grateful Gaeltacht builders is not clear.

Ní thuigim.