Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)

Any government’s first budget is so important. It is a map for how it is going to act over the next five years. It allows the Government to take the initial steps in areas it says it is going to prioritise. What today’s budget tells us is that this Government has no sense of direction. The untargeted VAT cut will benefit the biggest food businesses but is delayed for the small cafés that need it. There is no movement on the big commitments Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael made during the general election. There is no start on the public childcare model or the second tier of child benefit, nor is there an abolition of the means test for carers. When it comes to the environment, there is no ring-fenced funding for a national nature restoration plan. While these are long-term projects, the work needs to begin on them in year one. Today’s budget demonstrates that there is no seriousness on behalf of this Government about the commitments it made not even one year ago.

Looking at the VAT reduction, I am struck by the absolute lack of imagination on the Government’s part in how it has designed this proposal. All of us know of cafés and small businesses that are struggling in our communities. The VAT cut will shift vast sums towards big businesses that are already highly profitable. At the same time, the Government has decided to delay it so it does not immediately benefit the small businesses, such as cafés and restaurants, which are the very sector on which the Government has justified this entire VAT cut in the first place. Instead of the Government recognising that its measure is untargeted and simply too expensive, it is pulling this accountancy trick and basically delaying the implementation of this cut for six months. It is asking small businesses, the ones it is justifying this whole measure on, to hold out for six more months before they get any help. We have welfare for big business but the small guy can wait.

The Green Party put forward an alternative proposal, one that could have been rolled out from 1 January to provide help quickly, and it was targeted so that the biggest proportional benefit would go to those small businesses that actually need our help. Our proposal would have only cost €256 million in a full year, compared with the Government’s proposal.

Think of the opportunity cost of the €681 million this VAT cut is costing. Think of the items the Government told us were a priority for it in the general election and the programme for Government that it has not delivered. For example, there is no second tier of child benefit. In our budget submission, we costed this measure at €772 million. Not undertaking this costly VAT cut for big businesses could have almost entirely paid for that second tier of child benefit, which would raise 40,000 children out of poverty. The abolition of the means test for carers, which was a solemn pledge made by both Government parties during the general election, has been kicked down the road. There is also no start on a public model for childcare. Giving the State capacity to set up public childcare in areas where the spaces are not currently there is the only way the State is going to get to grips with the lack of capacity in the childcare sector. In our pre-budget submission, the Green Party estimated that €30 million in 2026 would allow the State to fund 50 new public childcare services, offering a total of 3,000 spaces in geographic areas where there is currently underprovision. While one year of investment will not solve the capacity challenge, it is about making a start and demonstrating that the Government is serious about making major change over its lifetime.

This budget demonstrates no commitment to change in the area of nature. The Government raided the climate and nature fund earlier this summer. All of that €3.15 billion, a significant proportion of which was to be used to support farmers and organisations implementing the nature restoration law, has been spent filling the gaps in the State’s infrastructure bill. There was an expectation that this budget would contain a clear, ring-fenced fund that could be drawn down from so that we can protect our uplands areas and improve habitats, while at the same time guaranteeing farmers new sources of income. How will we persuade landowners to sign up to new commitments if there is no evidence that the Government has the money put aside to reward them? It is a wasted opportunity and it is a further signal of this Government’s lack of seriousness.

The Government often celebrates our economic situation and the existence of the surpluses that we have. Compared with neighbouring economies right now, such as the UK, France and Germany, our economic situation is favourable. If budget 2026 represents the best this Government can do and that, in the good times, this Government can fail to start making the big changes in year one and initiate change when we have big surpluses, it inspires absolutely no confidence in this Government’s ability to handle the more challenging economic times that it likes to warn us are on the way.

See this speech in context