Charlie McCreevy, the outgoing Minister for Finance, has been voted Ireland's 'Best Ever Minister for Finance’, according to a poll conducted amongst the 12,000 plus readers of FINANCE. Other former ministers who polled well include Ray MacSharry in second place, and Michael Collins in tenth.

John Considine, a lecturer in public finance at University College Cork, whose main area of interest is Ministers for Finance, examines the performances of the 23 ministers, which may account for how the votes were cast in FINANCE's 'Best Ever Minister for Finance' poll.