Full coverage: Paschal Donohoe

The job of a party leader is to galvanise the troops. The job of a finance minister is to put them on rations. Simon Harris will now have to marry these competing demands.

Paschal Donohoe was a key proponent of the centre during a time of division and a Christian Democrat who presided over a massive increase in the size of the State. But to understand his policies and his personality, you have to look to Apple.

The finance minister makes the case for steadying the ship in the face of global turbulence and defends Vat cuts, his rejection of a new tax on Irefs, and plans to facilitate retail investment.

As he prepares his ninth budget, the finance minister insists Ireland must balance investment with restraint. In a world of tariffs, slowing multinationals and rising populism, he says Budget 2026 is about trade-offs, credibility and building for the future.

Scale Ireland hosted its annual pre-budget gathering with finance minister Paschal Donohoe on hand but anyone hoping for a tease of significant policy changes was left wanting.

Fine Gael’s finance spokesperson argues that personal tax cuts would not increase Ireland’s exposure to global risks and welcomes new faces among voters and party colleagues.

Fine Gael is proposing to increase capital spending, implement a €7bn tax package, and maintain an element of fiscal rectitude. However, it has set aside €5bn less than Fianna Fáil to cover the cost of existing service and a public sector pay claim.

The hospitality sector says the issue is about margin, not customers. But with the government's decision not to reduce the Vat rate for the besieged sector, what other options are on the menu?

Before an audience of investors and businesspeople, the minister laid out his vision for the Irish economy and assessed the UK's new FDI-friendly policies.

We have navigated so many unprecedented crises in recent years that both words are losing meaning. But Budget 2025 was not set against Brexit, Covid or spiralling inflation. It was framed against an upcoming election.