Budget 2019 held no surprises on Tuesday – largely because it had been leaked to death through the media over the weekend, and particularly on Monday. It was inevitable that Paschal Donohoe’s speech would be underwhelming, as we had already heard almost all he had to say.

Between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Independent Alliance, a lot of people had sight of this budget. Too many to keep it under wraps.

It’s hard to believe that a young minister of state from Kilkenny had to resign in 1995 over the leaking of the then minister for finance’s budget speech. I wonder whatever became of him?

The big news for farmers was the €20m for sucklers through the BEEP scheme (insert your own Road Runner joke here).

A lot of hot air was expanded in recent weeks on the difference between a coupled payment, which Minister Creed consistently set his face against, and the targeted payment he has now delivered.

A coupled payment is effectively where the farmer gets paid simply for having livestock. Suckler farmers might be in dire straits, but money for nothing was never an option.

In fairness, weighing of cows and their progeny is not the highest bar to be hurdled. The TAMS might be busy with applications for weighing scales in the coming months.

Low-interest loans

As for the low-interest loan, little progress has been made in 12 months. No starting date but it won’t be this year and no ring-fenced fund for farmers.

And where was Denis Naughten? The embattled minister for the environment had little imprint on the budget. Coming the day after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report calling for more urgency in tackling climate change, there was no evidence of any push for biofuels, bioenergy or any new initiatives in relation to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind in which farmers could be involved.

As of Wednesday lunchtime, 24 hours after Paschal Donohoe delivered his budget speech, we hadn’t heard a word from Minister Naughten. Instead, he was being grilled in the Dáil on his choice of dining partners in New York.