Budget holiday - Ministers packing carefully for big day in October

Ahead of budget day in October, there will be a lot more opinions offered on what can be achieved with Ireland's expected €65 billion surplus, writes Paul Hosford.

While Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's words to the media assured us that he and his Finance and Public Expenditure ministers were on the same page, his speech railed against caution, against pessimism. Photo: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

With the sun splitting the stones, there was a sense in Leinster House this week that summer had already arrived.

A senior member of a coalition party said it was as if politics had been "anaesthetised" and pointed to the early speculation on the shape of the Budget which had dominated the early going of this week.