As you’re probably aware, today is budget day, the annual piece of ritualised theatre that still manages, despite everything, to command the undivided attention of the political class and the media. By midafternoon, the familiar tableaux will have unfolded: the briefcase (or laptop) held aloft for the cameras, the careful walk into Leinster House, the set-piece speeches, the quick-fire hot takes, and the evening news bulletins topped and tailed with the same talking points.
But despite the best efforts of all concerned, the truth is that the spectacle is losing much of its grip. The budget remains important, of course, but its place as the single great national drama of the political year is less secure than it once was.
Not every country does it this way. Germany, France and the US are among the many who feel no need for a single day of budgetary reckoning.
Continue Reading on The Irish Times
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.