IT IS ALMOST a year since Taoiseach Enda Kenny took the unusual step of delivering an address to the nation on the eve of the Budget.

But a similar address will not be repeated this year ahead of the Budget on Wednesday, the government has confirmed.

Last year on the Sunday before the Budget, Kenny addressed the nation in what was  only the sixth time in the history of the State that a Taoiseach addressed the country in this manner and the first time in 25 years.

But there are no plans to repeat the national address this year.

In his address on 4 December last year, Kenny most notably told the country that “you are not responsible for this crisis”, a comment that came back to haunt him when he remarked at the World Economic Forum earlier this year that “people simply went mad with borrowing”.

He also outlined the measures his government would be introducing in the Budget over a two-day period. That two-day Budget has also been scrapped this year in favour of the traditional one day event.

Watch the Taoiseach’s address to the nation last year:

YouTube: rte

Kenny also said there would be a referendum to abolish the Seanad this year, a promise which ultimately was not honoured as the matter looks set to be pushed out to late next year at the earliest.

The Budget will be delivered this Wednesday, 5 December.

As it happened: Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s state of the nation address

Read: Here’s what Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the nation… in a word cloud