Full coverage: Budget

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.

Paschal Donohoe created a clear juxtaposition between his decision to rein in institutional investor profits (and stymy a tax move by Green Reit) and his support for small Irish business though a €1.2bn Brexit package and an overhaul of several schemes.

Paschal's Donohoe's no-thrills budget proves a dampener for the lobbyists and advocacy groups at Buswells Hotel

For businesses, Tuesday’s budget means higher energy taxes, tightening criteria to access green incentives and a slow roll-out of support schemes for renewables.

Budget 2020 is rightly being framed against the backdrop of Brexit. But the global economic mood music is increasingly depressed and there is little the government can do about it.