Dissent in the ranks

Slí Eile: Over on irisheconomy.ie (our neighbouring island!) you can read an interesting debate about accountability sparked by a chance remark about deflation which, I think, people are missing in the follow-up comments. There, Kevin O'Rourke writes:

However, the fact that the Government is cutting expenditure and raising taxes as severely as it now has to, thus lowering aggregate demand and worsening unemployment at the worst possible time imaginable (we can argue about the size of this effect, but its sign is in no doubt) is a damning indictment of Fianna Fáil/PD fiscal policy over the past few years.