Full coverage: Budget

Powerhouses like Germany want smaller contributions from member states. Some are afraid a new EU digital levy will only enrage Donald Trump after Google's latest GDPR fine. Where is the middle ground?

Jack Chambers is getting bored of just spending money and more excited at increasing the return he can get from it. Beyond the €17bn metro test, transferring early capital successes into current expenditure will be the bigger challenge.

Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke says he expects “good wins” for SMEs in the upcoming Budget. But he has a fight on his hands to get all he wants.

In one afternoon, the State’s coffers emerged relatively scot-free from the global bond rout and received another multi-hundred-million-euro boost from Apple. Simon Harris is already eyeing more tax cuts.

Striking solicitors are not the only ones complaining about funding for the courts. Released files shows the agency's CEO recently warned the incoming secretary general in justice of staff shortages and budget gaps stalling judicial and technological reforms.

Spending €1bn a year on petrol and diesel subsidies is a lot, but this is just one of several billion-euro levers the Government has access to in the lead up to the budget – unless Ireland finally loses its immunity from successive international crises.

The amount currently spent bidding against Irish households for a fixed pool of homes can be repurposed and recycled through a fund designed for a 40-year payback and a return no higher than the State’s own cost of borrowing.

The Summer Economic Statement used to ringfence tax-and-spend plans for the next year. It now shows how fast they become out of date.

The fate of France and Marine Le Pen is casting a wide shadow over Ireland’s EU presidency and the urgency in getting the long-term budget agreed this year, reports Jonathan Keane in Strasbourg.

The Government’s own plan is to increase budgetary reliance on windfall corporation tax receipts. Something has to give before it’s too late, its fiscal watchdog has warned.