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Breaking our own fiscal rules; expecting others to subsidise our defence; lecturing the rest of the EU on foreign policy. It’s a bad combination.
The budget surplus for this one year alone in Ireland was projected by the Minister for Finance in April to be in the order of €8billion.
Actual future-proofing
We have a bizarre situation where the next Government will be bound – at least to some degree – by major spending decisions taken in the dying days of this one.
Politicians have both a political and economic incentive to tell you that everything is fine, until it isn’t. It’s not lying, necessarily – but it might just be unwarranted optimism.
You might argue – might – that €350,000 is an amount of money that should be below the notice of Ministers, but you’d be making an argument that only an idiot should believe.
At every step along the way, Irish Governments over the last decade or more have pursued – consciously and with foreknowledge – a policy of higher energy costs.
Tweaking the levy and how it is applied to force the banks to become more competitive is something the Government should look at, but don’t hold your breath.
There’s a strong argument that we could make the poorest people in Ireland better off by taxing their incomes at a higher rate, while drastically cutting the taxes that actually drive up the cost of living, like VAT and fuel duties.
“I have no plans to abolish it.”
With figures like these, most households probably have good financial news coming in the budget.
Support for struggling businesses
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