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Will the electorate be grateful for budget 2025?

Where was the long-term strategy and/or vision?

So little for Irish businesses, particularly indigenous SMEs

Tax base narrowed again

Infrastructure mentioned loads of times with few details, let alone plans

Not nearly enough focus on return on invetsment

Will it work? In political terms at least.

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As we approach Budget 2025, we reflect on the usual leaked measures and suggest we are just children looking for the keys to the sweet shop. And yet so many of us say we want more houses, better health and high-quality schools. And then we elect politicians with a mandate to do none of those things.

Is democracy structurally incapable of delivering much needed change? Or is just a system that delivers blocking coalitions to parliaments everywhere that prevent anything serious from happening? Is democracy now just the culturally and economically complacent ensuring that things stay pretty much the same?

All this as the European economy sinks back into sullen economic mediocrity. At least interest rates will fall again in a few weeks and give house prices another much needed boost.

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