Budget 2025: ‘Bonanza’ budget repeats Ireland’s past mistakes, State watchdog warns

Responding to a question about public perception of wasteful government spending, the Tánaiste Micheál said “we can’t afford waste, the bike shed shouldn’t have happened.
“There were many projects that had been delivered on time – schools, hospitals, the Dunkettle interchange. Some checks and balances had taken “ages” to be done, but there were lots of good examples of projects being completed on time and on budget.
When asked about the date of the next election, Mr Martin said it was his view that February would be “an ideal time for an election.” There were measures in Budget 2025 that he wanted to see delivered. He did not understand “this speculative frenzy”.
“I’ve been very consistent (about the date, nothing has changed my perspective.
“I don’t understand the frenzy. February allows us to get important Bills through. I would like them to be completed.”
The hospitality sector continues to be very unhappy.
The Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said he took issue with the comments of the Fiscal Advisory Council about Budget 2025.
Was the Future Ireland Fund not serious? There would be €16billion in it by the end of next year, that was a substantial sum of money.
Investment in infrastructure was “quite significant”, all of which was necessary to enable more new homes to be built.
He denied the Budget would result in an inflationary cycle. The forecasts by the Department of Finance would indicate otherwise and the Fiscal Advisory Council had not questioned those forecasts.
Taoiseach Simon Harris told Newstalk Breakfast that he was “not just running an economy”, he was “running a society.”
Defending Budget 2025, Mr Harris said there had been a lot of targeting in it, so he would not apologise for the universal payments, reports Vivienne Clarke.
“People who pay taxes are entitled to a little bit of their money back.”Responding to criticism from the Fiscal Council, the Taoiseach said the Council was there “to keep politicians in line”, it had been set up by government, “but my bosses are the people of Ireland.“”Billions” had been put aside “building that buffer for the future.”
Mr Harris said he was confident that inflation was on a downward trajectory, that was the balance “that we tried to introduce yesterday.”The Budget was an attempt to “help people in the here and now.”
Very early days in this very unscientific poll but…
What do people make of the Budget? While phrases, words and headlines such as giveaway, bumper, bonanza, bribe, Jack Pot and Jack and his beans talk (our favourite) have dominated the news agenda since details of the budget were confirmed yesterday afternoon, it is really interesting to read what people have made of it…. and based on this piece in today’s paper, they are not happy.
The next big question is about the general election. For weeks now the Taoiseach Simon Harris has been insisting that the Government will serve its full term and playing down speculation that he will go to the country in November. It might look a lot like canvassing but it is probably just a coincidence that he is going on a Dublin city centre walkabout later today with many of those who will be running for Fine Gael in the election whenever it happens. What we do know is that the Finance Bill is to be published on October 10th and it could be voted through by both houses of the Oireachtas in a matter of days. That would allow scope for an election by the middle of November. Time will tell.
At the end of his speech yesterday Jack Chambers was full of hope. Closing his speech he quoted Micheál O’Muircheartaigh when he urged people to keep hoping. “As elected representatives, I believe it is our responsibility and duty to foster a real sense of hope for the future,” he said.
We resisted sharing it yesterday but as he spoke another quote about hope came to mind. “Hope, in reality, is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man,” said the not always entirely jolly Friedrich Nietzsche more than a century earlier.
For what it’s worth we’re in the O’Muircheartaigh camp.
If you have any budget related questions we have you covered. Our own Dominic Coyle and Beryl Power from PwC will be online later this morning answering readers’ questions. You can ask one here.
You might be asking who or what is the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council at this point.
It is, to use its own words, “an independent statutory body that acts as Ireland’s budgetary watchdog. Its purpose is to provide an independent assessment of various aspects of Irish budgetary policy. It comprises a five-member part-time Council and a full-time staff or “Secretariat” that supports its work.”
Today’s lead story is not, perhaps, the happy one the Government may have been hoping for. While it outlines what is surely one of the most spendy budgets in the history of the State, one which will leave many households more than €2,000 better off than they might otherwise have been, the top lines come from the State’s independent budgetary watchdog which has sharply criticised it and warned that it “repeats Ireland’s past mistakes of pumping billions into the economy when it is a full employment.
In an initial “flash” response, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council warned “Ireland needs a more serious vision that delivers on the economy’s needs without repeating the boom-to-bust pattern of its past.”
It said the large spending increases would drive inflation adding an estimated €1,000 to the cost of a typical household’s yearly outgoings.
“Large budget packages in recent years have put money back in people’s pockets,” said the advisory council. “But they have taken it away by pushing up prices.”
So, what can we expect today. Well there is a whole lot of Budget still to digest for starters.. The two main authors – Minister for Finance Jack Chambers and Minister for Public Expenditure – will follow the very traditional route from Leinster House to Montrose for a grilling by listeners of the Claire Byrne Show on RTE from 10am while various departments and ministers will hold briefings outlining what the Budget means in their area.
The hunt will also be on for the banana skins – the surprise elements that sometimes catch Government’s on the hop as the dust settles on their big day. And there is the small matter of General Election speculation which is not going to go away for a long, long time – or at least until the date is set.
Good morning and welcome to our continued live coverage of Budget 2025. The day after budget day is when departments give more detailed briefings, finance Ministers answer your questions and some of the finer points are parsed in more detail.
There is a bit of a morning after the night before vibe today. While there were few surprises, given so much had been flagged in advance, the scale of the budget spending was still remarkable.
And it is that scale which is the focus for the State’s independent budgetary watchdog, which has sharply criticised Tuesday’s bonanza budget, warning that it “repeats Ireland’s past mistakes of pumping billions into the economy when it is at full employment”.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council warned “Ireland needs a more serious vision that delivers on the economy’s needs without repeating the boom-to-bust pattern of its past.”
It said the large spending increases would drive inflation, adding an estimated €1,000 to the cost of a typical household’s yearly outgoings.
“Large budget packages in recent years have put money back in people’s pockets,” said the advisory council. “But they have taken it away by pushing up prices.”
The advisory council was also critical of the one-off benefits that have now been repeated for the third year in a row. “The same supports could have been provided to those most in need at a much lower cost,” it said.