A budget that butters many small parsnips but buys no votes.

The budget was the expected smorgasbord of measures. A budget that makes abundant sense to a centrist. But in this age of populism, does it cut the political mustard? Can the centre hold? In the words of Yeats:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

The test of Ireland’s political stability awaits. If Sinn Fein can buy enough votes with its incoherent high spend, high tax, no property tax policies then the die is cast. Ireland will get what it votes for. The centre is collapsing and societal division awaits.

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