Market Talk with Ian Guider

The budget is likely to pass off without incident, simply because there isn’t very much spare cash to go round

Paschal Donohue, minister for finance Pic: RollingNews.ie

Rummaging for millions down the back of the sofa

In ten days’ time, Paschal Donohue will deliver his first budget speech as minister for finance. Unlike the 2016 budget, which was well and truly leaked in advance, few kites have littered the sky as ministers have taken to do their begging for money from Donohue in private.

The lack of pre-announcements is telling for a couple of reasons. Even if this wasn’t a ...