On Tuesday, after Paschal Donohoe and Jack Chambers had delivered their budget speeches and after Pearse Doherty had issued his annual rebuke, I tried to make my way to Buswells Hotel across the road from the Dáil. It is something that I have done every budget day for longer than I care to remember. Every year, lobbyists and industry groups from all political and economic persuasions set up camp in the hotel, offering instant and voluble reaction to the budget. It is part theatre, part public relations, but it also gives a great sense of how the budget is being perceived. 

On Tuesday, however, Kildare Street was cordoned off by steel barriers and a heavy Garda presence. I explained my job, showed my credentials, but was refused access. There was no point in arguing; that was made crystal clear by the Garda, who politely yet sternly said he had been instructed to keep the road clear.

I was not alone. Many hardy lobbyists were also turned away, reducing the annual Buswells spectacle.

Budget 2026 was adding an additional €9.4 billion to the economy, but in official circles there were fears of protests and agitation. 

As it turned out, there was little need for the caution or the heavy security. There were no gathering protesters, no sense of anger on the streets. By the time I made my way back to Buswells later that evening to participate in an RTÉ radio show, the barricades had been removed. 

The world had moved on, and so too had the squadron of police.

The ring of steel says something about the more contested and fraught nature of our politics. The fact that the State has to shut down public access around Leinster House shows how fear – subtle, institutional, and deeply human – now shapes our public life. Fear, after all, is not always loud or dramatic; sometimes it takes the form of quiet precaution, of metal barriers erected “just in case”, of ordinary streets closed to ordinary people.

In recent years, that fear has become part of the civic landscape. Politicians fear the backlash of public anger; officials fear being seen as complacent; protesters fear being unheard. Fear breeds distance. 

Fear also alters perception. A street once familiar becomes a potential flashpoint; a crowd becomes a threat; a building becomes a fortress. We have become accustomed to precaution, and in doing so, perhaps we have normalised anxiety.

Jack Chambers referenced the growing ill-feeling in his budget speech, when he said: “Our vision is to create a thriving country, where enterprise can flourish, and people feel valued regardless of background, ethnicity, sexuality or gender,” he said before adding: “We must challenge the voices who try to use diversity to divide us. Instead, we will continue to celebrate the differences that elevate our cultural identity and our national heritage. This is the flag we must fly, moving forward together.”

I questioned him about this, about the fact that he felt compelled to bring in a rebuke to division in his speech, when he sat down with The Currency for his annual post-budget interview. “The budget is obviously about numbers and about allocations, but it’s also about setting a wider direction for the country and what type of society we want to be in,” he told me. 

Chambers understands this better than most. His constituency, Dublin West, is among the most diverse in Ireland. Most of the national schools have 40-plus nationalities. 

“They’re all the children of a generation who came here because we had the foundations and the employment, but also a safe place to live and work and raise a family. And in recent weeks, we’ve seen extremes grow louder in terms of their voices,” he told me.

There is a profound irony here, of course.

This tide of division has come at a time when the size of the State has increased dramatically. More money than ever is being allocated in more directions. 

In 2019, the cost of running the state was €66 billion. Last Tuesday, the Government allocated €116.8 billion for the next year. 

In truth, the number will be higher given the fact that so many departments seem unable to live within their means. 

Despite the rise of ill feeling, this remains a great country to live in. Yes, it is far from perfect, but few countries are. 

Consider this. So far in the 2020s alone, employment has risen by a staggering 400,000. That is an increase of more than 15 per cent in five years, and as Dan has noted before, it is the strongest growth rate of any EU country bar tiny Malta.

Our politics remains decidedly centrist. Multinational investment, despite a slowdown in the wake of Trump and tariffs, remains strong and there were plenty of measures in the budget to satisfy foreign corporations. 

This was a point Paschal Donohoe made to me when I sat down with him in advance of the budget. “The people decided to re-elect a non-populist government last November. I’ve been making the case for centrism and making the case for a moderate approach to politics and economic policies for a long time now,” he said. 

“I believe the general election of last year was probably my most important election, because of the potential for a non-centrist government to be elected. The people of Ireland decided not to do this. That momentum is building in other parts of the world at the moment. I continue to think that here in Ireland, the case for a political-economic centre is well made and is listened to by the people.”

It is important that the narrative does not bend to accommodate extremes. 

If there is a lesson in all this, it is that fear should inform prudence but not define our politics or our public life. The task for leaders, journalists, and citizens alike is to navigate the tension between caution and openness, between vigilance and trust. 

Our country may be larger, more complex, and more diverse than ever before, but it is also stronger and richer in opportunity.

Elsewhere last week…

Niamh Tallon, co-founder and CEO of Her Sport, has built a digital platform dedicated to women’s sport and to advocating for equality across the sporting ecosystem. Eimear O’Sullivan, corporate affairs director at Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland, oversees one of the country’s most prominent and sustained corporate partnerships in women’s sport, the company’s nearly decade-long sponsorship of Ladies’ Gaelic football. In our latest episode of Sports Matters, a podcast series sponsored by Whitney Moore, I caught up with them both to discuss the rise of female participation in sport.

From wedding singer to body-positive blogger to founder of Ireland’s most inclusive shapewear brand, Sinéad O’Brien has built Vacious into a fast-growing business that champions confidence, comfort and curves. She sat down with Kate.

In a hotly contested court hearing, the rescue package for the Irish airline CityJet was described as a “hostile takeover” by existing shareholder SARA. Its interests will now be wiped out in favour of Danish aviation investor Lars Thuesen. Francesca had the story. 

Conor Hillery, the son of former Fianna Fáil TD Brian Hillery, was appointed JPMorgan’s co-CEO of EMEA on Monday. His rise comes as little surprise to those who know him, as Michael outlined in a profile of the Irish banker.

The Currency’s coverage of Budget 2026 is supported by Baker Tilly Ireland.