THE LEVEL of controversy during the week over whether the [euro]200-a-year holiday home tax should apply to mobile homes is a staggering reflection on the frivolous nature of much of the debate over the economic crisis. If it actually reflects the public mood, then the country's agony will be prolonged indefinitely.

Whether the [euro]200 second homes tax should apply to mobile homes is utterly trivial in the scale of things, but the heat generated on the issue was a chilling reflection of how many people are still living in a fantasy world where economic reality has no place.

How is the Government to make decisions on the report from the so- called An Bord Snip Nua, expected to recommend cuts in welfare and a whole range of State services, or implement a genuine property tax, if people object so strenuously to a very modest tax on second homes? The fact that Minister for the Environment John Gormley felt obliged to back down, after such a short skirmish, on applying the tax to mobile homes does not augur well for the Government's ability to carry the day in the bigger battles ahead.

The report of An Bord Snip Nua, as the Expenditure Review Committee has become known, will be the first signpost pointing to the scale of the task ahead. While there has been talk of [euro]5 billion in cuts next year, most people find such large numbers hard to grasp. It is only when the practical detail is spelt out that voters will realise what is going to happen. That's when the screaming will start.

The report will be formally handed over to Brian Lenihan on Monday, and he is not expected to bring it to Cabinet for a week or two. While there has been some pressure, notably from Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin, not to publish until autumn, when the Lisbon Treaty is out of the way, it seems as if the Government will go ahead and publish it before the end of this month.

While publication will inevitably stir up controversy and give hostages to fortune by enabling pressure groups to mount opposition to many of the specific proposals, there is a lot to be said for getting the report out in the open as quickly as possible.

For a start, it might help to wake the public up to the reality of the choices faced by the Government. The Fianna Fail-Green Coalition will, meanwhile, have the luxury of being able to say it is not committed to accepting any particular cut until budget decisions are made later in the year. It should also put pressure on the Opposition parties, to say what aspects of the report they would accept.