Leo has three big issues and any number of things could go wrong

The prospect of a budget coinciding with a presidential election is alarming for Leo, writes Gerard Howlin

A taoiseach in August is usually a man unwinding from the intensity of office, while cogitating the traps and opportunities ahead. Politics is most intense during the long days and nights of winter. Ours is a Taoiseach who doesn’t do August.

There is the novelty of office, of course. Then there is the fact of not yet having received a personal mandate for the job in a general election. There is the possibility of an election, sooner rather than later, but not necessarily at a time of his choosing. That’s pressure and it is only the start of it.