Good morning. The Irish Times is bringing you continued live coverage of Budget 2024 this morning.
Following the presentation of the budget to Dáil Éireann yesterday, today will be full of reaction and analysis from across the political spectrum.
There’s plenty to get stuck into already. What does Budget 2024 mean for you? The Irish Times is running an Ask The Experts live blog – if you’re curious, send in a question and find out where you’re gaining, or loosing out, post-budget.
Here are some more of our key reads on Budget 2024 this morning.
Key reads
Tánaiste: Introduction of savings fund an important, ‘far-seeing measure’
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that the most important legacy from Tuesday’s budget was the introduction of a savings fund.
“The biggest issue in the budget was what I think is a very far-seeing measure, the introduction of the savings fund, which will protect the future for young people today, the 20-year-old and 30-year-olds today, not in decades ahead, but in the decade ahead.
“If a recession comes or the economy downturns, the tendency has always been to cut capital projects. But we’re saying by this measure is we want to maintain momentum on a Metro. We want to maintain momentum on new rail systems and public transport and more busses and so on, and electrification of the bus fleet. And we don’t want a situation in the future if there’s an economic downturn that we don’t have a sufficiency of capital to meet those infrastructural needs because we do need to do that properly into the future.”
Mr Martin told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that inevitably, in the aftermath of any budget, there would be varying criticisms. Challenges in putting the budget together included “a very significant inflationary period of the last two years”, and an ageing population. A rising population has led to increased pressures on public expenditure and the existing levels of services.
The budget had included “very significant impactful measures” on education and childcare provision, he added.
Mr Martin said that the Government’s evidence was that the measures would help those most in need and would address the gap between rising inflation and the cost of services, and the prices that people have to pay in daily goods and services.
“We have been very focused and targeted in the combination of measures towards easing the pressure in the first instance on the most low paid. But there’s many in the middle income groups who are also struggling with what has been an extraordinary period of price increases in the most basic of goods that people buy on a daily basis.”
Mr Martin said existing targets for housing were not a limit to what could be delivered. There has been a significant increase in the delivery of social housing, he said, along with an increase in schemes to help first time buyers.
The Tánaiste acknowledged that more availability was essential and that the current momentum must be maintained.
Budget surpluses cannot be taken for granted, says Simon Coveney
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney has cautioned that people cannot take yearly budget surpluses for granted.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Coveney said Ireland was different from most countries in the world, who were not operating with budget surpluses.
“We have a strong economy, we have full employment and have actually had more than full employment and the country’s finances have been managed relatively well.”
Mr Coveney added that speaking from personal experience, the Government “knows all about what happens when the wrong decisions are made in terms of how you manage a country’s finances.
“I remember when I became a minister, 12 or 13 years ago, when we had to cut massively right across every government department, where the pay across the public sector got cut by 15 per cent when we were virtually spending nothing in terms of capital infrastructure investment.
“This is a Government that understands that only too well, and that’s why Michael McGrath yesterday, supported by Government, put over €6 billion into funds for the future to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Mr Coveney said that a breakdown of Budget 2024 indicated that the measures introduced would most benefit those who were on the lowest incomes.
“But we also recognise that middle income earners in Ireland are also under some pressure. And so some of the payments that we want to get out are universal to every household in the country, recognising that everybody is coping with the cost of living. They all have different financial circumstances and so on.
“Most measures are targeted towards people who are on the lowest incomes, and that’s the way it should be. But some measures, particularly the ones that we want to get to quickly and without an application process or application criteria are universal.
“One of those, of course, is the energy credits. I think if you asked households across the country whether last year’s decision by the Government to give them almost €800 in energy credits helped them through the winter debit, they’ll give you a very positive answer on that. And we’re repeating that because we can afford to do it.” – Vivienne Clarke
Major issues facing people in Ireland including housing, childcare, child poverty and disability services have not been addressed in Budget 2024, according to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns.
“Instead, what we’ve seen is kind of a bit for everyone, more of the same and not a real meaningful approach. It’s a sticking plaster to cover up our eroding services and the absence of investment in core financial services and financial supports for people who really desperately need them,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Ms Cairns said she was “gobsmacked” at the absence of any kind of meaningful approach to really address child poverty, despite a unit being set up within the Taoiseach’s office.
She said she thought it was a typo when she saw the €64 million allocation to disability services, given the department’s own review had said it required €350 million.
“There’s nothing to indicate any kind of a change in the approach to housing, to make housing more affordable and therefore more social affordable homes. The list goes on. It’s kind of a bit for everyone, not enough to make a difference and a little bit more for people who need it less.”
The Budget could have gone further in addressing childcare costs, she said. Fathers were not taking up paternity leave – not because they did not want to spend time with their babies, but because they could not afford to do so because of rising energy costs and childcare costs.
“It’s about giving parents a choice, because some people want to spend more time at home with their children. Some people want a reduction in childcare costs. And I think we have to empower people to make their own decisions in relation to that. And a lot more could be done.” – Vivienne Clarke
