Sometimes, it is the seemingly innocuous details that hint at the broader strategic focus. One of those details came yesterday midway through Paschal Donohoe’s budgetary speech. The finance minister had just retained the Help-to-Buy scheme and increased stamp duty on commercial property transactions. However, before he got to government health spending, Donohoe took a curious detour into the world of company acquisitions, cancellation schemes and Section 9 of the Companies Act. It was the sort of detail that went above most people’s head, except those in the immediate know. And for those very few, the import of the minister’s words…

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