Irish Examiner view: Jim Gavin crisis overshadows Budget 2026

Fianna Fáil TDs, including some in Taoiseach Micheál Martin's Cork base, criticise party's presidential election fiasco

Micheál Martin and public expenditure minister Jack Chambers with Jim Gavin at the announcement on September 9 that he would be Fianna Fáil's presidential candidate. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

The annual budget is always one of the great occasions in the Dáil calendar, a set-piece pitting the finance minister against spokespersons for opposition parties in a rhetorical battle that dominates the discourse for the following week.

This year’s event has been a little different, however, and not just because an increase in the price of cigarettes is no longer the conversation piece it was back in the heyday of smoking.