Irish Examiner view: Debt touching €250bn — we have hard choices to make

Pandemic costs paint a bleak picture

Finance Minister, Paschal Donohoe, warned yesterday that Government debt would stand at close to €250bn by Christmas. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

When Paschal Donohoe, the finance minister, addressed the national economic dialogue yesterday, he warned that Government debt would stand at close to €250bn by Christmas. This is a sobering thought, despite the fact that it, or a figure like it, was not unexpected.

The pandemic and all its negative consequences for work, wealth generation, and tax obligations, along with its significant legacy debt conspire to paint this bleak picture.

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Taoiseach Micheál Martin, at the same conference, said State expenditure over the last year or so, on foot of the pandemic, of about €38bn was “not sustainable”.

Proposed changes around international tax rules and the capacity of individual countries to offer an attractive USP also casts a shadow over the road ahead.

No matter how it’s dressed up, or no matter who does the dressing up, this tightening noose will make hard choices inevitable in the not-too-distant future. Once again, as is so often the case, grand ambition must be curtailed to divert
resources to meet an urgent and undeniable need.