CurrentAccount: "We have lied day and night to the people . . . There is not much choice because we screwed up. Not a little - a lot. No European country has done something as boneheaded as we have."
This was Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany's description of how he concealed the state of the government's finances and the scale of cutbacks needed to shrink it.
The broadcast of his admission last Sunday has brought rioters on to the streets outside Hungary's parliament to demand Gyurcsany's resignation.
A hundred years ago, drawing inspiration from the people of Hungary, Arthur Griffith recommended the Irish people assert their right to self rule by rising up, as Hungarians had done within the Austrian Empire 50 years previously.
After the last election the Government's Exchequer position deteriorated rapidly, prompting accusations that the Government had lied through its teeth about the economy. If the present Government is returned next May and the Irish property market crashes in its term, voters might just decide to take Griffith's advice.
Budget does fireworks campaign no justice
The Department of Finance is regularly derided for being parsimonious. But maybe this is a little unfair after all.
This week, the Department of Justice put out a tender notice looking for companies to run a new seasonal campaign to highlight the dangers of fireworks. All very laudable of course, but the budget the victorious company will be working with is certainly not generous.
The financial resources allocated to this project allows for expenditure up to a maximum of € 120,000 inclusive of VAT, states the department's notice on the eTenders website - and it admonishes potential bidders not to assume they should seek the whole sum. Bids will be assessed on the basis of the "most economically advantageous tender submitted", it counsels.
To get an idea of just how small this figure is, consider the following: it would not even be enough to purchase five full-page colour adverts in most of the national broadsheets, never mind paying for expensive television airtime.
Clearly, the mantle of most miserly Government department has passed from Merrion Street to up around St Stephen's Green.
Dell taps into east
News this week of a €200 million investment in Poland by Dell, the world's top PC maker, underlines the risks to Ireland from numerous former Communist states in eastern Europe, which now boast the twin allures of EU membership and low-cost manufacturing.
For many years, Ireland was the undisputed market leader for US high-tech investment in Europe.
But Dell's move to create 1,000 jobs in Lodz shows just how inward investment expertise in spreading to the east, where modernising governments have also brought their corporate tax rates down.
Dell employs 4,500 people here and the group made it clear this week that the new Lodz factory will operate in addition to its big manufacturing plant in Limerick.
Yet when a player of Dell's scale shuns its long-time bridgehead into Europe for a new base in Poland, it's time to pay attention.
No matter what the group says about its commitment to its existing base here, the Lodz development indicates that the Republic has lost its lustre.
Remember also that Dell unveiled plans this week to add some 600 people to the 1,500 workers it already employs in Slovakia. The Slovak unit handles financial and analytical operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa, in addition to marketing, sales and support services for German-speaking markets.
IDA Ireland has had a number of notable successes this year, but Dell's latest investments should be a cause for concern.
