Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Pre-Budget 2026 Engagement (Resumed)

2:00 am

Photo of Richard O'DonoghueRichard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)
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I have a question. In Limerick we had a big meeting at the start of this week in the Wyeth Nutritionals factory. We met major stakeholders and businesses from around County Limerick. Some of them are international companies that have bases here. Their biggest problem was, with their sister companies in other European countries, that the cost of doing business here is 10% or 15% more than in other European countries. Their biggest problems here are the tariffs coming in and PRSI contributions increasing as wages go up. Energy was also mentioned as an issue. What will be in the budget to try to keep these major employers in the country? They are being targeted by those tariffs, wage increases and energy prices. How are we going to counteract these in the budget to make sure that they do not leave and the likes of Trump takes them back?