We are paying much more for essentials such as housing, energy, insurance and groceries than we were before the cost-of-living crisis. Photograph: iStock

Happy Budget Eve everyone. On Tuesday afternoon the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue and the Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers will take to their feet in the Dáil chamber and unveil the first major financial statement of intent of the (relatively new) administration.

We all know that it will offer us very little by way of comfort, and while it won’t be a hair-shirt budget like we saw at the height of the crash, it won’t be a giveaway one either.

The fiscal coyness that we’re expecting is a far cry from the pre-election budgets of 2024 and 2023, when there were all manner of tax cuts and so-called one-off measures rolled out aimed at helping Irish consumers get through the cost-of-living crisis and the government through the election.

Now that the main parties are through the election gap and won’t have to face us again until 2029 or even 2030, maybe they think the need for giveaways has receded.

Although that is not the narrative being spun in the run-up to this budget.

Speaking last month Donohoe promised that the Government would provide further supports to struggling families and individuals who continue to find the financial going tough.

“Over the last number of years, the last number of budgets that we have done had a series of one-off measures that were needed because inflation was so high,” he said. “Now what we need to do is replace those kinds of measures with more permanent, targeted measures that we can build on in the time ahead.”

He is entirely correct to suggest that more must be done to help those in our society who are struggling the most and more targeted measures aimed at lifting people out of poverty are essential – and they should have been deployed in 2024 and 2023 too.

Many will take issue with any suggestion that simply because t