I know that somebody who makes his living in the media shouldn’t even be thinking this way, but I’m kind of nostalgic for the way budgets used to be delivered and reported.

I’m of an age (I’d say regrettably, but there’s nothing I can do to change things) when a senior civil servant used to visit us in the RTE Newsroom on Budget Day and hand us the content of the budget, page by page from a fax machine (remember those), just after the Minister for Finance of the day had delivered it on the floor of the Dail.

In those days before mobile phones, email, social media and an army of governmental and ministerial spinners slipping messages out from about the end of August to a more than willing fourth estate about how assiduously their guys and gals are working to deliver budgetary goodies for the nation, we really did learn what was in the budget when the stern-looking Principal Officer in the brown or navy suit, handed us the next page of the script..

Now, it’s like the way Christmas has gone - the whole circus starts about two months earlier than it should, and by the time the last “exclusive” screams at us from the Sunday and daily pages, some of the old magic and suspense of the set piece has been lost.

The 24-hour competitive news cycle is partly responsible for this development of course; so too, the way politicians and their advisers have become more canny about the insatiable appetite of the media (whatever about media consumers) for this kind of stuff.  I’m not sure it’s a good development, but hey, just call me Canute.

It’s also the case that this year the Government has already set out the broad €1.5bn spending and tax cut parameters that will determine the budget, a broadly positive development.

So, unless Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin take on some of Charlie McCreevy’s quirkier characteristics, and hit us with something completely unexpected on Tuesday (and that wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing either), we have a fairly good idea of what to expect and much of the scheduled analysis will have its work cut out to hold our interest and to appear in anyway fresh.

Given there is likely to be little deviation in the detail of what’s on the budgetary table in the short-term, I thought I’d set out a number of areas I’d like to see the Ministers raise on Tuesday as longer-term issues for whatever administration is in charge over the next five years.  

• A commitment to launch within the next two years, at the latest, a credible auto-enrolment pension scheme for every employee in the country, and a comprehensive advance communications programme to inform people about the benefits of private pension savings and to encourage the majority of workers not to opt out.

• A commitment to rolling back the current strategy to provide free medical care for all children and all senior citizens, regardless of means. As the population ages and the number of tax-payers reduces proportionately, we cannot afford it. Many individuals and families within these targeted constituencies are well able to pay or insure for their own health care; and whatever resources we have, should be channelled to deliver better services for those who can’t afford them 

• A commitment to a clear, rational template that will enable citizens anticipate how much they will be required to pay, any given year, in terms of the new range of (required) taxes and levies such as the Household Property tax and water charges. The current position where a government can decide on a whim to “freeze” such charges to coincide with the electoral cycle, undermines any rational principle for how these charges should be computed and raises concerns about a significant catch-up increase in the years ahead.  People require and deserve logic and surety about these issues rather uncertainty and random political patronage...

A sample menu and one I won’t be scouring for their mention in the media anytime soon.