There are two things to remember: the one and only goal of Government fiscal strategy has been to contain the deficit. They have set no targets for job creation / retention, investment, consumer spending or even a timeline on shortening and lessening the impact of the recessionary dive. The exclusive objective of fiscal policy has been to contain the deficit.

In keeping with this strategy, the Government brought in the supplementary April budget out of fear that the deficit would rise to -12.75 percent. Only weeks earlier, they had published the Addendum where they had set a 2009 deficit target of -9.5 percent (this itself was a downward revision of a target they had set, yet again, only weeks previously in the October Budget - a target of -6.5 percent).

The April budget's measures, combined with the earlier pension levy, was intended to contain the annual deficit at 10.75 percent for this year and next year - winding down to the Maastricht threshold of -3 percent by 2013.

So what is the ESRI projecting for this year and next? In 2009, they project the annual deficit to be -12.9 percent. That is considerably above the Government's target for this year. In 2010, the deficit will remain pretty much the same, -12.8 percent.

Turns out that pursuing a policy of shrinking the economy doesn't help get you out of a recession. Who knew?