Business Journalist
Having entered the year expecting to have money to spare, 2020 saw the Government undertake an emergency spending programme that involved unprecedented levels of support for individuals and business.
With budget deficits the default position since the financial crisis, the prospect of a 0.2% surplus in 2020 was sure to have made finance officials giddy with delight.
Then the pandemic hit.
What followed was a dramatic increase in Government spending - targeted at both the healthcare sector, but also the businesses and workers impacted by the first lockdown.
A payment for those forced out of work due to Covid - what would become the Pandemic Unemployment Payment - was unveiled, along with a subsidy for businesses that had remained open, but were facing a serious revenue hit all the same.