Suitcases packed, car stuffed, out-of-office on: time to review the first half of the year in politics. As ever, figuring out what’s important from what’s not is the primary task of political analysis. Here’s my take on the four most important things in politics so far in 2026.

1. The money kept rolling in

Broken record warning: you may have read this around here before. But the single most important thing in Irish politics this year has been the continuation of the corporation tax revenues. We know how dangerously unbalanced this leaves our tax system and therefore our public finances. But it is far, far better to have that problem than the other one. Allied to continuing strong economic growth – much of it driven by the same multinational sector – it means the Government is running the strongest public finances in Europe, with all the benefits (though also the pressures) that brings.

There were even signs this year that the economy may even be a bit Trump-proof. There were even signs this year that the economy may even be a bit Trump-proof. On Thursday, the US president announced the continuation of tariffs of 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent on countries including EU states. But the tariffs haven’t had as much as an effect as some anticipated, and long-feared targeting of the Irish pharma sector hasn’t materialised. Chips giant Intel unveiled a further €5 billion investment in Leixlip.

So the economy and the public finances remain in good shape. If you doubt the importance of this, spend five minutes imagining what our politics looks like if the Government has €15 billion to €20 billion less to spend every year. I’ll........

© The Irish Times