Not since the dark days of the crash have we seen what amounts to a second budget squeezed into the year. This time round, however, rather than extracting billions from the economy, the Government is pumping in money - up to €4 billion with just over €900 million of that coming from Europe.
Good news undoubtedly with huge allocations for businesses and for the green and digital economies. But while ministers love to announce the goodies, today's announcement of the Economic Recovery Plan isn’t quite so sweet because of the cuts to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the news of property tax hikes.
The political battle lines on the PUP have been firmly drawn and while Government insists there is "no cliff edge" as the payment is phased