DURING A Fianna Fáil budget many years ago, the minister for finance frontloaded his statement with all the good news.

Each nugget was greeted by a happy chorus of “hear, hear” from the government backbenchers.

However, when the bad news started to emerge, they fell silent. It prompted the late Gerry L’Estrange, colourful FG TD for Longford-Westmeath for several years, to remark: “That is the last ‘hear, hear’ you will hear from here, here on.”