This time no one is pulling wool over Burton’s eyes

In the aftermath of last year’s budget, Joan Burton was left exposed by her Cabinet colleagues in the handling of the U-turn on disability cuts.

Having defended the cut during the customary post-budget briefings, Ms Burton later witnessed her colleague, Finance Minister Michael Noonan, telling Prime Time that night that the measure could be “looked at again”.

It was already clear that the cut would be unpopular when Mr Noonan appeared on RTÉ’s Today with Pat Kenny show the following morning.