Irish Examiner view: Pandemic will define Budget 2021 outcomes

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe yesterday invoked the comforting wisdom and perspective of Seamus Heaney. “If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere.” Photo: Julien Behal

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe concluded his budget speech yesterday in a way few, if any, of his predecessors felt obliged to, probably because none of them faced as many troubling known knowns or indeed inevitable unknown unknowns as we do today. 

He invoked the comforting wisdom and perspective of Seamus Heaney. “If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere,” offered Mr Donohoe.