It is not a nice feeling to sense that the country seems to be rudderless and leaderless. The government has not been decisive in its handling of the economy, whereas many other countries have moved much more quickly to resuscitate their wavering economies. Our government's denial is going on for more than a year and, as we have seen in the recent budget, they have only targeted old-age pensioners, handicapped teenagers, girls in need of cervical-cancer vaccination and school-going children.

Senior decision makers in the government are behaving like dazzled rabbits, not knowing which way to turn, and there seems to be no long-term strategic planning or well thought-out policies; it is purely firefighting at the moment. It's insane that our government increases VAT while our neighbours in the UK reduce it. Our government policies will stop people spending on consumer goods and drive more people to shop across the border as the VAT rate differential is now 6.5%.

And if the general public decides to cut back on all types of expenditure due to the implementation of the wrong type of taxes, this will lead to a bigger shortfall in revenue for the government.

Most citizens knew that the Celtic Tiger economy could not continue forever – but it was the duty of the government to properly manage our state finances in times of plenty. However, they chose to ignore the warnings of over-reliance on the construction industry and let the so-called golden decade slip into oblivion.

Billy Walsh,

24 Parknamore Rise,

Ballincollig, Co Cork.