Scatter-gun approach likely for Budget 2018

We now have a new Taoiseach and a new top team in place in the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Apart from the ongoing public sector pay issues, the next big challenge facing those three parties will be presented by the framing of Budget 2018 over the coming weeks in preparation for its delivery in October.

The economic backdrop against which Budget 2018 is being framed is quite a constructive one at one level, with the economy continuing to deliver good growth.