Ms Mary Rose Burke:

I thank the Committee on Budgetary Oversight for the invitation to discuss priorities for budget 2019. Dublin Chamber values its ongoing engagement with parliamentarians of all parties and is appreciative of this opportunity to present its preliminary recommendations for budget 2019.

Dublin Chamber is the largest chamber of commerce in Ireland. We represent more than 1,300 firms throughout the greater Dublin area, employing some 300,000 people nationally. The firms range in size from small start-ups to major multinationals. Our diverse and cross-sectoral membership base gives the chamber a keen insight into the needs of both businesses and their employees in the run-up to the budget.

The chamber takes a holistic view of the commercial environment. In our policy agenda, we strive to reflect the complementary needs of business and society. Many of the members of the committee will be familiar with our Dublin 2050 initiative from a number of years ago. Last year, we ran the great Dublin survey. It had more than 1 million impressions on social media and received more than 20,000 responses from residents of the capital to discern their hopes, needs, dreams and aspirations for the future. From that survey we devised a vision for the future of Dublin as a city that will be globally renowned for its economic vitality and quality of life. It is with this vision in mind that we approach budget 2019.

Our budget recommendations have been approved by our elected policy council and shaped by ongoing engagement with our membership base and the work of our budget and taxation task force, led by Mr. Vincent Harrison. While official estimates of available Exchequer resources next year have not been available for long, we hope to inform the work of this committee by outlining our strategic priorities and preliminary recommendations. The context of the budget shows that Ireland's small open economy has continued to perform strongly despite rising international risks. Robust economic growth is continuing, and there is healthy consumer sentiment. Meanwhile, the labour force is steadily approaching full employment. Dublin Chamber research suggests that more than half of firms expect staff numbers to rise in the third quarter of 2018. Such figures offer reason for optimism, but we also caution against an overly expansionary fiscal policy. Headline indicators are positive, but the underlying position is precarious. Internal risk factors include high Government debt, the inadequacy of economic infrastructure, the productivity gap between Irish and multinational firms, and reliance on a narrow segment of tax receipts. These weaknesses leave Ireland's globalised economy highly vulnerable to external shocks. Budget 2019 must take action to address these weaknesses, while avoiding inflation. Dublin Chamber notes the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, observation that there are already signs of overheating in the economy, and echoes recent International Monetary Fund, IMF, advice that Ireland should exercise caution with its fiscal policy in 2019.

Informed by these realities and business feedback, Dublin Chamber recommends that the fiscal space should be used to prepare Dublin and Ireland for the challenges ahead, by strengthening the fundamentals of the economy, namely, our infrastructure, indigenous businesses and labour force.