The centre will hold

While we were not able to do all we hoped on budget day, we did show that moderate politics, instead of populism, can work

‘We must use the economic recovery to find our passion for practical politics’ Picture: Maura Hickey

In my speech on Budget Day last Tuesday, I alluded to The Second Coming by WB Yeats when I said that it was the job of those in the middle ground of Irish politics to show that things won’t just fall apart and the centre can hold – and stay firm.

The Fianna Fáil finance spokesperson, TD Michael McGrath, also referenced the poem, leading to some suggesting a coordinated approach. No such coordination ...