John FitzGerald: Budget 2018 contains missed opportunities
Action on carbon tax and tourism VAT rate would have resulted in a more effective budget
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe at RTÉ Radio 1 for Today with Sean O’Rourke. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Up to the early 1980s, the production of the budget was a major logistical exercise for the Department of Finance. Any change in the draft meant that a typist had to retype the whole budget speech from scratch. Given this, it was not physically possible to produce more than two or three drafts of the speech prior to budget day. That concentrated civil service and political minds.