Former finance minister (known as 'Richie Ruin' for his tough budgets in the 1970s)

"How many hairs does a man have to lose before he is bald? We are already there. We are in a depression as there has been such a drop in the economic output of the country.

"In the 1980s we brought the recession on ourselves with excessive borrowing. This recession has been caused by over reliance on the construction industry.

"Essentially the problem now is that the government has brought in proposals that were unpopular and they have not got the courage to stick to those decisions. Everybody is floundering around wondering what will be their next point of surrender.

"Brian Lenihan and Brian Cowen are shifting their ground on almost everything so that makes it more difficult for the public to accept the seriousness of the situation.

"I am sorry to say that I think that unemployment could get worse. I think that pump-priming the economy would be the ideal way to get things going again but the reality is that we don't have the money in the bank. All the surpluses have been squandered and it is not going to be easy to borrow money.

"I think that there were so many mistakes made in the budget through the different forms of savings they tried to make that they have had to abandon them. It would be better to have taken more time to prepare a January budget rather than rushing through an early budget with so many mistakes.

"Savings were possible without having an October budget. I think they had the early budget just for the optics.

"At the same time, I pray for the minister for finance every day as he carries his cross for Ireland! All former finance ministers have sympathy for him but if he is not fit for the job he should get out. It is up to the public to decide if he is fit for it or not."