Full coverage: Budget

Lobby groups have campaigned for a universal basic income for years. Now, it looks like a pilot programme will be announced in this year’s Budget. Arts workers are the obvious choice to trial it over the next three years, but some elements of the anticipated pilot still need to be ironed out.

It’s peak season for pre-budget submissions, with 15 examined here. A good way of analysing the demands coming from various sections of society is to relate them to the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on dog racing.

Ireland’s CGT rate has been increased four times in 12 years, is among the highest in the world, and is an ongoing flashpoint between business and policymakers. With budget negotiations underway, will the government reduce the 33% rate? Or will they tinker with reliefs?

Michael McGrath has just co-authored an unprecedented €17.75bn budget package. Now, he wants to ensure he gets value for the money. Here, he explains how, and also discusses the new business supports for business, Brexit trade talks and the impact of the new Covid-19 restrictions.

As budgetary caution evaporates under the Covid-19 shock, energy efficiency, buses and trains are getting funded like never before. Can these new environmental priorities survive into the future?

Paschal Donohoe is a chief architect of the July stimulus package. In an in-depth interview, the finance minister talks about the philosophy behind the package, the challenges facing Irish business and the societal impact of Covid-19.

Following on from the recent debate between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin surrounding proposed 100-year leases for social housing, Sinn Féin's spokesperson on housing Eoin Ó Broin publishes a full costing for the measure – and maintains that it would not deliver value.

As the Trump administration continues along the path of deficits-financed economic expansion, the question that investors must start asking is at what point will debt supply start exceeding debt demand, even with the Fed continuing to throw more cash on the fiscal policies bonfire?

Ireland talks endlessly about taxation and expenditure, but few people talk about the mechanics of reform. This is what I wanted to discuss with one of the country’s top civil servants, 48 hours after Budget day.

In her first major post-Budget interview, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphries talks about what Budget 2020 means for Irish business, dealing with the prospect of a hard Brexit and her new strategy for SMEs.