Top Stories

Public pay, wealth taxes, and health spending: Ged Nash’s case for “honest budgeting”

Labour’s finance spokesperson says Budget 2027's income-tax breaks and welfare boosts are too little, too late for those hit by inflation – but he acknowledges “some good ideas” to support Irish start-ups and scale-ups.

McKillen Jr concedes €2m debt that brought him to the brink

The former Press Up boss has yielded to a debt he spent months contesting in court. However, by launching personal insolvency proceedings last month, he won't have to pay the debt yet.

A soccer cheating scandal has ballooned into a geopolitical problem for Britain

As Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City braces for punishment, ties with the U.K. government have turned into a headache for Burnham, write Max Colchester, Joshua Robinson, and Eliot Brown, The Wall Street Journal.

From one budget to another: How can Ireland’s EU presidency steer through Spain’s election?

With Budget 2027 laid down, Ireland is back in the hotseat at EU level as negotiating Europe’s own budget has been thrown into murky waters by Spain’s snap election.

Peter Burke on three years in the job: “I’ve learned to be calm in budget negotiations”

Budget 2027 put household finances centre stage, but Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke argues that its enterprise measures are spread throughout the package, from €1bn for scaling companies to changes in CGT.

Norway aims to open debate on use of AI glasses in public with ban proposal

The country is drafting a law to prohibit the use of these devices in some locations due to privacy concerns, writes Andrea Figueras, The Wall Street Journal.

Chambers on Budget 2027: “My motivation is about a better State with better delivery”

The minister for public expenditure and reform is more concerned with how money is spent than how much. But when dealing with public sector pay or cuts to ring-fenced carbon tax, the numbers still very much matter.

Spain’s leader pins political survival on public anger over housing crisis

Pedro Sánchez bets his left-wing coalition can avoid a bruising defeat in next month’s election, write Margherita Stancati and Marcos Garcia Rey, The Wall Street Journal.

Top Voices

Dan O’Brien: To some, a budget surplus is like being in Alice in Wonderland

With imminent elections primed to transform the European political landscape and an Irish economy humming along nicely, hitting the fiscal accelerator was unnecessary. But with debt levels low, Ireland is in a strong position to handle any bond market woes.

John Looby: There really is nothing new in finance

The financing of AI infrastructure may be dressed up as a new asset class for a new industrial revolution. But the basic financial trick – turning future income into something investors can buy – is as old as finance itself.

Budget 2027: The tax-incentivised investment accounts had to be compelling – and they are

A tax-free threshold of €50,000 and an annual contribution limit of €12,000 will make Ireland’s new tax-incentivised accounts intriguing to many. Can they succeed in pushing savers towards investing?

Ian Kehoe on Budget 2027: A package for middle Ireland, paid for by the multinationals

Will middle-income earners feel better off from the tax package – and will Jack Chambers manage to prevent spending overruns? Those are the two big questions hanging over Budget 2027.

€2.60 in every €100: Inside Irish retail’s margin crisis

Retail sales have held up, but profits are being squeezed by higher wages, energy and other costs, with insolvencies rising sharply ahead of Budget 2027.

Colm McCarthy: Cassandra, Hopium and the warning from Ireland’s last great tax bonanza 

Ireland can afford to spend more today. The harder question is whether it will retain enough firepower for the next downturn.

The energy transition is back – but who gets priority? Rewinding the week that was

The Taoiseach's interest in indigenous, renewable gas as an alternative to imported fossil fuels is real. But his interest in powering Intel's latest multi-billion-euro investment yielded more funding, faster.

Anne Harris: The two Charleses and the ghost of Diana 

Charles Spencer’s Swan Song has reopened the bitter divisions between Diana’s family and the Windsors, raising fresh questions about what happened after her death – and whether the British royals learn anything.