Having delivered Budget 2023, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe speaks candidly about his time in office – from achievements to regrets. He also talks about the specifics of the budget, the future of taxation, and governing in a time of crises.
I was forced to leave Ireland during the last financial crash. I returned home with no assets, a fractured life, and spiralling rents. Meanwhile, the Generals of this economic war remain the same. I’m out.
Most of Europe is not creating the right people who can build things. Meanwhile, the European government funding ecosystem is broken and following the wrong strategy. So, let’s not continue to kid ourselves that everything is okay.
In times of incredible economic uncertainty, the logical response would be to spend less. Resisting the political temptation to do the opposite is going to be very difficult.
Official Ireland's view is that the country will grow slowly. In reality, as the census shows, Ireland is one of the fastest-growing countries in Europe. This failure to plan for growth has had catastrophic consequences for Irish infrastructure – not least its housing.
Although inflation data and commodity markets point to less severe price hikes than initially feared, central banks are now on a tightening trajectory and equity markets are predicting a textbook recession.
We can no longer outsource governance and hard choices to Europe, energy to Russia, and security to the US. Whether we figure out what to do with ourselves in the right time scale is another matter.
Ireland's Covid policy responses needed speed, scope, and scale. The Ukraine policy response has to be broad and fast to ensure households and businesses, just recovering from Covid, make it to the end of 2022.
The Currency has tracked €13 billion domiciled in the IFSC by sanctioned Russian firms and their subsidiaries. This money is now frozen but the Irish government is about to feel the heat over its light-touch financial regulation and willingness to look away.
Inflation represents yet another segregation in our economy, between those who can cope with rising prices and those who cannot. The government knows this too but is either unwilling or unable to end this segregation.
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