Star Metro - Ireland unveils bumper budget with Apple tax cash boost

Minister of Finance Jack Chambers announced a 10.5-billion-euro ($11.6-billion) 2025 budget package, which included higher public infrastructure investment and social welfare support.

The moves come with a general election looming: Prime minister Simon Harris must go to the country before March 2025.

But with poll ratings up for his coalition government, some suggest he could call the vote sooner.

"Budget 2025 puts the country on a firm footing for the future," Chambers told parliament.

Measures announced include extra child benefit payments before the end of the year, a universal electricity credit, increased welfare and pension payments, and a rise in rent tax credit.

Ireland is forecasting its fourth consecutive budget surplus in 2025, with 9.7 billion euros, faring much better than many other European countries thanks to its hefty corporate tax intake from multinational companies based in Dublin.

The state's 2024 finances have been boosted by 14 billion euros in back-taxes from Apple, after the European Court of Justice ruled in September that the iPhone maker benefited from undue tax advantages in the country.

Ireland is now left with a one-off revenue that Chambers said had the capacity to be "transformational".

The government intends to use the money to invest in "housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure", Chambers told parliament, adding that the full framework for its use will be revealed in the first quarter of next year.

"We know that our public finances are heavily reliant on corporation tax," Chambers said, before noting that the government should avoid using these "potentially transient receipts to fund permanent expenditure measures".

Without windfall taxes and "one-off revenue" from tech giants, the country would be in a deficit of 6.3 billion euros this year and 5.7 billion euros next year, according to the government.

K.Evans--SMC