It came as no surprise when, early in his speech, the Minister for Finance spoke of the Government's need to secure "stable" finances, writes Frank McNally

Most pundits had agreed the lucrative tax relief on stallion fees was one of the most likely targets for a Budget cut. So the sight of Mr McCreevy heading for the stable-yard with the squeezers was hardly unexpected.

As his speech unfolded, however, there was no overt mention of equine breeding at all.

The Minister continued to worry the horses, boasting of how the Government had created a "stable policy environment" in the past, while warning that the finances needed a "stable framework" going forward.

But when a Labour heckler shouted "What about the stallions?" Mr McCreevy, like the horseman in Yeats's epitaph, cast a cold eye on the Opposition and passed by.

Another prediction to bite the dust was that he might abolish the tax relief for artists. That he didn't was less surprising. As a man who famously compared his first five budgets to the chapters of a book, Mr McCreevy obviously hopes to qualify for the scheme himself eventually.

Of course, critics remain divided about whether his work has the artistic merit required. But after his five-chapter debut - a racy tale of money and sex (for thoroughbred horses, anyway), the opening instalment of his new volume had a haunting, almost Proustian feel: a kind of "A la Recherche de l'Argent Perdu".

Always helpful, the Opposition suggested a few other titles for the work in progress. Fine Gael's Richard Bruton thought it was a reworking of the classic Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and lamented that the electorate hadn't noticed the hair growing on Mr McCreevy's palms until after the election.

Labour's Joan Burton went even further. Seeing in the Budget the final abandonment of the Health Strategy, she characterised the relationship between the ministers for finance and health as a struggle between "Beauty and the Beast".

Any implication that the beauty (Mr Martin, apparently) would eventually fall in love with the beast, who would then turn into a prince, was not intended.

Dismissing "this really dismal Budget," Ms Burton claimed that the demeanour of Government backbenchers during the Minister's speech suggested he no longer enjoyed their confidence.

This might have been overstating things a bit, but certainly the Government TDs looked glummer than for any of Mr McCreevy's previous Budgets.

The air of gloom didn't only affect them. The opposition was subdued as well, and with some good reason.

Richard Bruton opened his response by reminding us all that the late Jim Mitchell had performed the same role last year; a sobering thought.

The Budget left at least one group happy, however. Returning to the heckler's theme, Joan Burton prefaced her speech with the message: "Stallions and their owners can sleep easy tonight."

She was right about that. Outside in Kildare Street, temperatures were plummeting, and it was a night to threaten the breeding prospects of brass monkeys. But in Co Kildare and elsewhere, the stable doors were safely bolted and the stallions were inside, their prize assets still untaxed.