Great communicators make powerful arguments in pithy, undeniable, one-liners.

Fine Gael is proposing new legislation to asses opposing parties' spending plans.

For anyone afflicted with a predisposition towards pessimism, these are trying times.

Two scenarios, one Budget. The difference between those two scenarios is €30bn.

So that’s Tuesday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Isn't the Fiscal Advisory Council a disgrace?

Just because something is permitted, doesn’t mean it is right, writes Elaine Loughlin

Raising expectation ahead of delivery, and way ahead of what should be delivered at all, is taking a toll, writes Gerard Howlin.

Things have changed, apparently unexpectedly. The resignation of Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick from Fine Gael on Monday does not automatically change events, but it may do so dramatically. 

The Government is being warned not to increase Budget spending by more than €3.5bn this year.

WHEN he outlined his budget ambitions in Tipperary yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he would prioritise reducing the tax bills faced by middle-income families and those working for the minimum wage.

The Government has been warned not to spend too much money in next month's budget.

The path has been cleared for the new Fine Gael leader, Leo Varadkar, to become Taoiseach.

Anyone who sat through the Oireachtas banking inquiry sessions last year will be able to tell you all about stamp duty and the role it played during the boom years.

The Dundalk FC faithful gathered in the bar of the club’s Oriel Park home last Friday morning.

A top economic advisory group says the Finance Minister Michael Noonan must provide details of how the Programme for Government will be paid for.

What is at stake is a radically different use in other hands of potent instruments of control — namely time and information, writes Gerard Howlin

One-upmanship has defined wealth creation and its distribution in this country. It’s time the State, the super-rich, and public sector elites paid for a fairer Ireland, writes Eddie Hobbs

Fine Gael is scrambling to explain projected spending powers for the next government after its economic blueprint for the country was overshadowed with questions about holes in future budget plans.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has rolled back on plans for a €2.5bn ‘rainy day fund’ for any shocks to the economy and admitted this will not be part of Fine Gael’s specific spending promises in the election campaign.

ONE of the phrases Bertie Ahern must regret — and there may be a few — is the one he used to try to calm a self- fulfilling panic around a collapsing property market. 

The chair of the new Climate Change Advisory Council has said the group won’t hold back on criticising the Government for failings in tackling carbon emissions.

The Government are not worse than Fianna Fáil in terms of excessive spending increases, Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin insisted yesterday.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

With an election in the offing, a growing percentage are completely disillusioned with politics as it has been practiced by the main parties in this country for decades. Time and again we’ve had the merry-go-round of promises to do things differently when in opposition, and subsequent reneging when in government. In that light, we have compiled 10 ideas that might contribute to saving politics from total cynicism, writes Special Correspondent Michael Clifford

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has insisted new EU fiscal rules will prevent the October budget from becoming a “giveaway” pre-election deal.

Much has been written in recent months about the fact that Fine Gael or a Fine Gael government has never been re-elected in back-to- back elections, writes Paul Mills.

Brace yourself for a barrage of ‘good news’ over the next nine months or so, courtesy of the Government, as they, against the advice of the Fiscal Advisory Council, among others, prepare to secure the outcome of the next general election.

Two thirds of retired public service workers who saw their pensions slashed during the economic crash are set to benefit from increases of up to €1,680 over the next three years, in sharp contrast to their private sector colleagues.

WHAT ARE we like that it’s big news in environmental circles this week that the Government is appointing the first Climate Change Advisory Council, asks Victoria White.

Brussels has given the Government the green light to deliver a more generous budget in the run-up to the next general election.

SWEETS for babbies. I know that’s a harsh assessment of Tuesday’s budget, but we have endured too much to be faced now with more of the same.

The positive revision of growth figures from the Central Bank yesterday – up to 4.5% from 2.5% — is another welcome indication that our economy is turning the corner. These figures, unimaginable even a short while ago, must be a cause for some guarded optimism.

A report by the Fiscal Advisory Council recommending a €2bn adjustment in the Budget is not "left on the shelf, un-touched and un-read" according to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

The Imma affair has thrown into sharp relief the glorious aspirations for government reform and transparency trumpeted by Fine Gael in its New Politics document, writes Michael Clifford.

A spring budget should be brought in to give people earlier benefits from the improving economy, the chairman of the Dáil’s finance committee said.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that next month's Budget will "prudently encourage" more growth in the economy.

Ministers are spending €481,000 a year on a financial watchdog they have made clear they will ignore ahead of the Budget.

WHITEWASH. Greenwash. Hogwash. Whatever kind of wash you’re having yourself, our Taoiseach has been spewing it at the UN climate summit in New York.

Cabinet ministers have been warned to abandon "unrealistic" budget plans and settle for what is available.

With just three weeks to go until Budget Day, the question of tax relief hangs over this morning’s Cabinet meeting.

There is a warning today that "considerable work" is still needed to fix the public finances.