Irish Examiner view: Budget 2027 is all about getting the balance right

There is a growing sense around Leinster House that the budget formation process will do little to calm tensions between the coalition partners  as ministers and senior officials complaiined that their meetings with Jack Chambers were 'robust' or 'brusque'. File picture: iStock

After a lead-in period fraught with angst as ministers fight their corner for a slice of tomorrow’s budget cake, it’s ironic that a Government flush with cash and keen to please everyone could end up with an even unhappier electorate by the time the dust settles on Budget 2027.

The leaks, briefings, and kite-flying have laid bare how hard ministers have had to fight for increased spending
allocations with minister for public expenditure, Jack Chambers, in the firing line as he mans the frontline of efforts to keep spending increases to a maximum of 6% across the board.

Ministers and senior officials have spent the week just past complaining bitterly that their meetings with Mr Chambers were “robust,” “brusque,” or, in one instance “literally unbelievable” and there is a growing sense around Leinster House and outside that the process will do little to calm tensions between the coalition partners.

With a budget package involving some €8.5bn — including €7bn in additional spending and €1.5bn in tax reductions — the in-fighting across all departments for a piece of the action has been hard to ignore.

However, an increasingly frustrated public will be less than forgiving if the Government fails to at least get the basics right in this budget.

With cost-of-living issues heading the pile when it comes to trying to satisfy an electorate dissatisfied with government performance on a number of fronts, including housing, pensions, and fuel prices, what few seem to realise is that much of the available money has already been allocated.

A lot of it has already been pencilled in for various departmental budgets in a vain attempt to keep pace with inflation and a Government struggling to cope with the many international issues driving consumer prices up and up.

But finance minister, Simon Harris, and Mr Chambers have so far struggled to come up with a balance of measures to try and calm stormy waters — not least the threat of a repeat of the fuel cost protests which almost brought the country to a standstill earlier this year — to try and appease a restless electorate.

They have key decisions to make, not least on health, which is already running well ahead of budget, education, and what to allocate for a new public pay deal, their hands have been largely tied despite having an unprecedented amount of dosh to dole out.

On the tax front, much of the €1.5bn available will be swallowed by allowing adjustments for inflation and higher wages and raising the price of a pack of cigarettes to €20 will hardly fill that hole. Renewing the bank levy for another year will help, but not much.

Money still has to be found to make promised adjustment on inheritance tax and new measures to help businesses.

It will also have to be found to pay for increased child supports and an expansion of the working family payment, and there is also the small matter of a second tier of child benefit. The so-called ‘energy package’ will also be closely scrutinised.

In all, this is going to be a very difficult budget for the Government to negotiate, at a time when they so much to give away.

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Chinese spy threat

Last week, Dutch spymasters warned about the threat of in-car technologies in Chinese cars being used for espionage purposes to eavesdrop on individuals.

On top of that came claims from Britain’s MI5 security service that colleges across Europe are being targeted by the Chinese and that “front education companies” are being used for espionage purposes.

And now, as highlighted by the Irish Examiner’s security correspondent, Cormac O’Keeffe, Irish security services are beefing up engagement with Irish colleges over these growing concerns.

Of particular worry is the China General Technology Research Institute which is funding academics in return for access to research.

Predictably, the Chinese have responded saying that this speculation was “imaginary and purely fabricated.”

Here in Ireland, it is known that various Chinese state research institutions and universities are involved with their Irish counterparts in joint research on a variety of subjects.

Despite the official Irish line that “there’s nothing to see here”, the Garda security service has intensified engagement with the third-level sector because of security concerns. These mirror the experiences of other countries in this regard.

It’s a balancing act for the Government keen not to jeopardise economic and education relationships with China, but the threat to vital and imperative research materials — covering everything from health to innovative technologies — is something we must pay close heed to.

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Asian hornets

Speaking of espionage, the Irish Parks and Wildlife Service last week took to utilising revolutionary technology to try and staunch the threat to this country’s biodiversity from an Asian threat.

The miniature trackers being used to track the whereabouts of a nest of Asian hornets in the Ringaskiddy area of Co Cork, have proven to be spectacularly effective.

There were widespread fears that the discovery of a number of these insects — thought to have arrived here via ships docking at the Ringaskiddy port — could pose a massive threat to native pollinators, including Irish honeybees and sparked intensive efforts to track down their nest.

By attaching tracking devices to live Asian hornets, the authorities tracked down the nest and are now in the process of removing and destroying it.

It is the second such incident in the Cork area.

It is another example of utilising our own technology to stamp out a very insidious threat.