A slow, boring grind to a changed Ireland in 2021

Get used to budgets without a big bang: they are part of a process that serves to benefit us all

Budget 2018 did exactly what it said it would do. It featured small tax changes, and small spending increases. Incremental changes to rules governing key sectors were the order of the day. Almost everyone got something. It was inevitable that something was pretty small. Disappointed journalists had no big bang policies to announce. The era of the big bang announcement is over. With it, the drama and column inches they used to generate. ...