Fate is fickle. Imagine you are Paschal Donohoe. It is February. You have succeeded in the main task a finance minister has. You balance the books, grow the economy, and invest in capital spending. Then your party loses the election. Fate, in the form of the Irish people and their voting preferences, return you to Dáil Éireann and to Ministerial office. Then Fate kicks it up a gear and unleashes a global pandemic. You projected a five-year fiscal space of some €11 billion to spend on new policies. Six months after the election you’ve blown right through that. You produce…

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