Irish Examiner view: Plans must be matched by oversight

State spending

The site of the Cork Event Centre, formerly Beamish & Crawford brewery on South Main Street, Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins

The sense of anticipation about the prospect of a giveaway budget was not dampened down with the recent arrival of the summer economic statement (SES), which outlines the budget’s broad direction. In that regard, we learned of an overall budget package of €6.4bn, which includes €5.25bn in extra expenditure, with an additional tax package of €1.15bn on top of that.

One reason there is so much focus on the possibilities of this year’s budget is the unexpectedly high corporate tax receipts, which in turn has led to much discussion of where those receipts might best be spent.