Some economists see a ‘once-in-a-generation’ chance for public investment, but Dublin says it must save for the future
Officials preparing Ireland’s upcoming budget face a situation most of their peers elsewhere would love to have: an €8.6bn surplus and an economy that grew five times faster than expected last year. But deciding what to do with the country’s tremendous fortune is proving trickier than anticipated. “Ireland’s problem isn’t that it doesn’t have enough money — it has loads,” said Gerard Brady, chief economist at Ibec, Ireland’s biggest business lobby.
But Dermot O’Leary, chief economist at brokerage Goodbody, said there was evidence of “spending creep”. “The government has been talking a good game in relation to the need for prudence, the move to set up these savings funds. Yet the actual reality has been significantly less prudent in terms of spending growth,” he said. Dublin has used some of the money for debt repayment, lowering its debt-to-GNI ratio to just under 76 per cent, and to fund Covid-19 measures and cost of living support.
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