THE BUDGET IS over for another year. So what did the national papers make of the whole affair?
Let’s take a look…
Main headline: Young families benefit most in Budget built to win votes
Also: Miriam Lord reckons it’ll be a nice boost for ‘the Coppers Couple‘ – the fictional garda and nurse who met in Copperface Jacks and are now working on building a family. Arthur Beesley notes that there are ‘populist moves apparent‘ but says expansionary ‘excess’ has been avoided. Cliff Taylor reckons that the USC ‘bazooka’ is just part of Michael Noonan’s re-election armoury.
Main headline: Cash back in our pockets
Also: David McWilliams says the coalition is ‘staking out its turf’ for the election. Lise Hand observes there was ‘something for everyone in the audience’. The paper also caught up with Bertie Ahern, who said he found it “amazing” to see Michael Noonan announce a Budget package to rival those at the height of the boom, at a time when there was still a high deficit.
Main headline: Key voter groups get the most
Also: In its Budget supplement the paper focuses on the family-friendly aspects of this year’s announcement. Michael Clifford’s take is that ministers Noonan and Howlin were channelling former Fianna Fáil finance minister Charlie McCreevy with a ‘back to the future Budget’.
Main headline: A Taoiseach who’s got 1.5 billion reasons to smile
Also: Inside, the paper reckons the coalition is ‘bringing stability to families‘ while journalist Mary Carr, casting her eye over the Dáil benches, asks ‘you had lots to give away, Michael, so where was the passion?’
Main headline: Trick or Treat
Also: There’s an interesting picture on page two of a deserted Molesworth Street. It had been cordoned off by gardaí, but protests failed to materialise. There’s also a 12-page Budget supplement, where the star contributors include Eamon Dunphy. “No help to those worst off,” says the headline on Dunphy’s piece.
Main headline: Family Guys
Also: Rachel Lavin notes that ‘Generation Z‘ is missing out on the planned recovery. Reviewing the TV coverage, Pat Stacey reckons it was a ‘recurring nightmare crossed with a charmless pantomime‘.
Main headline: PAYE BACK
Also: Inside, the paper calls it a ‘€1.5 billion giveaway’. Pat Flanagan, however, reckons that the ‘little something for everyone in the audience pales into insignificance after years of austerity‘. The tabloid wins our ‘pun of the morning’ competition for its page 6 headline ‘A boom with a phew!’.
Main headline: Billions
Also: There’s a handy ‘at a glance’ guide, a focus on the family-friendly measures like planned free GP care for under 12s and the Child Benefit increase. ‘Enda’ (aka. Oliver Callan) also gives his take.
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