“I’m walking down Kildare Street, being escorted by a guard,” was a phrase the lobbyist from the Construction Industry Federation probably didn’t expect to find himself saying to a colleague over the phone on budget day. The Currency and a few others were making our way to the traditional budget watch party in Buswells Hotel on Molesworth Street. We had expected a police presence, but not the complete garda blockade of all access points to Leinster House. It wasn’t just a few moveable crowd control barriers, either, but a semi-permanent gate supported by concrete blocks, fixed to the roads and…

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