Seamus Coffey: Choices have to be made on budget day
We should use current favourable circumstances to prepare for future economic risks

The recent surge in corporation tax from foreign companies corresponds to €1,500 for every household in the country. Photograph: Getty Images
Next year should see Ireland have a balanced government budget for the first time in a decade. The huge deficit between government income and spending that opened in 2008 has been successively and successfully reduced but some risks remain, not least of which is the €200 billion debt that running such deficits contributed to.
The latest estimate from the Department of Finance for the scope available for tax and spending changes in 2018 is €1.7 billion. Spending can rise by more than this if offsetting revenue raising measures are introduced.