The Budget may have been greeted by (almost) universal acclaim, but not so in the Financial Times. In an editorial comment last week, the business paper said the PPF, while once useful, was now an artificial profits subsidy. It said Mr McCreevy should compensate employees for higher inflation by relaxing wage control. It also warned that booms such as Ireland's end in tears "if an overstretched banking system cannot cope with the consequences of asset price overshooting."

It said the Government should reinforce Ireland's financial system, "for example, by tightening restrictions on bank lending".

It added that "just because a government has surrendered control of its currency, it has not abandoned economic influence".