While the run-up to Wednesday's budget has been more subdued than usual, as less money to dole out means less lobbying for special consideration, the actual delivery by Charlie McCreevy may be more eventful. The reason is that for the first time all the figures will be in euros and any misreading by the public could lead to great alarm. The Department of Finance professes it is doing all it can to flag the change - a 20 euro tax increase on the pint, for example, is not actually 20 pence. There is a fear of false assessment, which is a horror in Finance-speak.
While the publication of the estimates has taken much of the gloss off budget days, the main announcements awaited on Wednesday are tax and social-welfare changes, the sole figure on health not announced this week (i.e. the spending for 2002), alterations affecting the property market and (because of the need to raise revenues) the possibility of higher taxes on the old reliables: booze, fags and petrol.