Clock ticking for Coalition to deliver on spending pledge

The clock is ticking on the Coalition to deliver on a big commitment it made only last month, after exchequer figures yesterday showed a large part of an extra €1.5bn spending pledge has yet to be spent this year.

The focus yesterday fell on the scale of the tax revenues — in particular on the unexpectedly huge corporate tax bounty — that has filled Government coffers to date.

However, economist Conall MacCoille at Davy Stockbrokers said there is no sign in the tax-and-spend figures that the Government had spent a significant part of the extra €1.5bn it pledged to spend by the end of the year.