Last week, the Government published its Summer Economic Statement 2025. The document sets out the Government’s medium-term budgetary strategy and outlines the fiscal parameters within which discussions will take place ahead of Budget 2026. The Government also published the revised National Development Plan where they set out the strategy to address the current infrastructure deficit. The Institute’s Director of Members and Advocacy, Cróna Clohisey issued a press release last week following publication of the revised plan.
The overall package of tax reductions and public spending increases for Budget 2026 will amount to €9.4 billion, an increase of 7.3 percent on the revised 2025 General Expenditure Ceiling, with the total tax package amounting to €1.5 billion. You can read our key takeaways from the release of the Summer Economic Statement and revised National Development Plan here.
Following publication of the Summer Economic Statement, the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, noted the following:
“The changing tariff landscape and increased protectionism is a key challenge for Ireland’s economic model. While the economy has remained resilient, the government will be proactive in our response. While continuing to advocate for multilateral cooperation, the SES provides resources to enhance our economic competitiveness by making large-scale investments in our public infrastructure and continuing to improve public services.
In responding to emerging economic threats the government is also conscious of the delicate position of the public finances. At a headline level our public finances are in a strong position, with budgetary surpluses expected this year and next. However, our fiscal strength is underpinned in a large part by volatile corporation tax receipts, which represents a significant vulnerability.
We are committing to a multi-dimensional but focussed approach in response to this challenge; boosting our public infrastructure stock, improving our competitiveness and safeguarding the public finances are the three key pillars of our approach. Through the publication of a revised NDP we are making available a record level of funding for public investment, with a particular focus on investment in the key strategic areas of water, energy, transport and housing. This will improve our public services, increase domestic and foreign investment and boost our competitiveness.
We will also continue to invest in the Future Ireland and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Funds. These investments will strengthen our public finances in the medium to long term and help to address the costs associated with structural challenges, such as aging and decarbonisation.
The emerging challenges that we face requires a budgetary strategy that is flexible, responsive and consistent with increasing Ireland’s competitiveness. In practice, this means using public resources to invest in productivity enhancing initiatives, while guarding against overly procyclical spending and building-up fiscal buffers. The budget package of €9.4 billion announced today strikes an appropriate balance between these considerations. It represents the critical first step in implementing Programme for Government commitments across the economy and is consistent with our response to the challenges being faced.”
LOADING...