Podcast: What’s in Budget 2026 for you?

Conor Pope explains the main points while Cliff Taylor examines the Government's approach

Listen | 19:06
Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers during Budget 2026 this afternoon. Photograph Nick Bradshaw / The Irish Times.
Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers during Budget 2026 this afternoon. Photograph Nick Bradshaw / The Irish Times.

What is in Budget 2026 for you? There is unlikely to be much. As expected, Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Jack Chambers have delivered a much tighter package than recent years. Out are broad tax cuts, universal payments to help with steep energy bills and most bonus social welfare payments.

But the budget did deliver some help for some groups, including those who earn the minimum wage and renters. Conor Pope runs through the main points.

Plus: Cliff Taylor on why, eleven months after a general election campaign that featured many spending promises, the Government has instead decided to tighten its belt.

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