Continuing our annual series, we track down the people who featured in our Budget "case studies" of 10 years ago and find out what happened to them since, writes Frank McNally
John and Mary appeared to fare well in the 1997 budget. A married couple living in England with their two small children, they planned to return home soon. Indeed, "by trawling through the job advertisements in The Irish Times", John had already found a position paying £25,000 a year. But although they looked forward to a better quality of life back in Dublin, they also dreaded the tax implications, having heard "horror stories" from friends.
So they were pleasantly surprised to find that, as a result of Mr McCreevy's reforms, their net income would be £362 higher than in Britain. At the same time, they were "disturbed" the minister had done nothing to curb the soaring cost of houses here. But acting on independent financial advice that the Dublin property boom could last only "another year - tops", they moved home anyway and rented a flat in Rathmines.
In 2003, still living in the flat and now with five children, they successfully sued their financial adviser, settling out of court.
Around the same time, "trawling through the Irish Times property supplement", they noticed that for the price of a two-bedroom shack in Dublin 6, they could buy an 800-acre sheep station, plus vineyard, in Western Australia. Speaking by satellite phone yesterday from the swimming pool at their beautiful home near Perth, they admit missing Ireland occasionally. But they're coping, somehow.
Paul and Jane were a cohabiting couple in their 40s, both unemployed. They were happy to hear Mr McCreevy's promise to tackle social exclusion and pleased too with the increase in child benefit. But according to our Budget supplement, Paul had been planning "to buy a cheap second-hand car in the North in the hope of picking up more odd jobs". So he was "underwhelmed" by the tiny reduction in VRT, which would be wiped out by increases in fuel tax.
In the event Paul did go North, just after Christmas 1997, and killed two birds with one stone when he bought a 17-year-old Ford Cortina near Forkhill from a man known as "Fingers". Hearing that he was on the look-out for odd jobs, Fingers put him in touch with certain people. And Paul soon embarked on a series of very odd jobs, in what could be loosely termed the "haulage" business. Some of the work, ironically, involved exploiting cross-border fuel-tax differentials.
Eventually he earned enough to upgrade his car, buying a 10-year-old Nissan Bluebird, just in time to take advantage of the newly-deregulated Dublin taxi market. He had a further stroke of luck in 2005 when one of his customers left what appeared to be an economy-sized box of Ariel in the back seat of his cab, but stuffed full of £50 sterling Northern Bank notes. Strenuous efforts to find the owner proved unsuccessful. So eventually Paul spent the money on an almost-new BMW, also purchased in Forkhill.
Brendan was a divorced company director in his 50s, with two teenage children in private schools, and an income of £69,000. He gained about £1,300 from the 1997 tax cuts. But our supplement noted too that Brendan was "the generous type, giving to many local causes"; so he would also benefit from promised new reliefs on charitable donations.
Dramatic confirmation of Brendan's generosity emerged two years later during evidence to the Flood Tribunal, which heard of a series of contributions he had made to local politicians. He denied being the beneficial owner of a 52 per cent controlling share in a pro-rezoning councillor, but admitted large-scale philanthropy born of love for the democratic process. He now owns a small shopping centre near Dublin.
Siobhan was a single woman in her early 30s, who for over a decade had been live-in carer to her much-loved great-aunt Polly, recently deceased. She was unimpressed by the record of successive governments on carers' allowances. Her anger was ameliorated, however, by Mr McCreevy's decision to introduce tax relief for relatives inheriting a home in which they had lived for at least 10 years. She said this would help with the grieving process.
Now married, Siobhan still lives in the home she inherited - a beautifully appointed late-Georgian pile in South Dublin. In 2003, apparently acting on a tip-off, gardaí reopened the file on Aunt Polly's "tragic accident". But it was closed again later that year for lack of evidence.
Clive and Mary were a professional couple in their 30s, with no children and both in well-paid jobs. They were described as "keen wine-drinkers, often buying by the crate", and were said to be happy that Mr McCreevy had not increased tax on alcohol.
In fact, Clive was rather keener on the wine drinking than was Mary. His keenness increased throughout the late 1990s, until soon he was not only buying it by the crate but consuming it at that rate. Then one night in 2001, he had a life-changing experience while watching Dog Day Afternoon on video. He finally faced up to the awful truth from which he had been using drink to hide: he was a woman trapped inside a man's body.
The couple attempted marriage counselling, but split in 2002. Clive later gave up drinking, underwent a successful sex-change operation, and left Ireland to begin a new life abroad. Now known as "Nadia", she represented Slovakia in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, finishing seventh.