“Climate change is likely to cost a lot of money. The government hasn’t set out any kind of plan or estimates of how much it’s going to cost.”
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has warned that Government faces difficult choices and needs to prioritise what it wants to achieve in Budget 2023. It must address with the current cost-of-living crisis, without further stoking inflation. It must balance short-term and long-term demands. It must also appease the three coalition partners. And as the economist Sebastian Barnes, the chairman of the Council, says in this podcast with Stephen Kinsella, the upcoming Budget is set against the backdrop of four overlapping crises. He remains positive about the economy but is less upbeat to the state’s approach to pension and climate.
