Podcast special: A fireside chat between Jim, Minister Jack Chambers, Cormac Fitzgerald & Cróna Clohisey

• In this episode, Minister Jack Chambers says Budget 27 was built around balance - protecting long-term capital investment while responding to cost of living pressures.
• Chambers says next year’s capital investment will exceed 20 billion euro, and that day-to-day spending growth has been brought down from an average of 9% to about 6%.
• Jim Power argues the budget is positive overall, especially on personal tax relief, the investment account, and the reduction in capital gains tax from 33% to 31%.
• Power warns that Ireland’s public finances depend heavily on a small number of multinational firms, pointing to concentration risk in corporation tax receipts and the need for prudent spending.
• Cormac Fitzgerald says SMEs remain under pressure from labour costs, energy costs, PRSI increases, auto-enrolment, and rising compliance burdens.
• Fitzgerald welcomes the new investment savings scheme and says SME support should be strengthened in the Finance Bill or Budget 28.
• Cróna Clohisey says the budget’s administrative simplification measures matter, especially the removal of real-time benefit reporting requirements.
• Clohisey also stresses that labour costs are the biggest issue for SMEs and says employers’ PRSI relief would have helped.
• Chambers repeatedly returns to the need for public spending efficiency, saying the state must deliver better outcomes rather than simply spend more.
• The panel agrees that simplification, predictable regulation, and better delivery from the state are essential if Ireland is to support both business growth and public trust.

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