Louise Byrne

How much higher is that going to get?

1TD and Fianna Fáil told me they wouldn't be surprised if we end up spending €2 billion on these measures over the course between now and the end of the year.

So it's going to have to have an impact on the budget.

And the Taoiseach said that on the day that this €505 million package was announced that, of course, everything has an impact.

So what the impact of that will be is another question.

Simon Harris saying yesterday again in Drogheda that he is determined that there's going to be a personal tax package in budget 2027, that the best way to help people with inflation is by letting them keep some of their money.

Not that you ever get to keep a huge amount of money back after these tax cuts, but it's better than nothing, I think is kind of what he was saying.

And whether that will still be possible if these measures have to be extended and the manner in which they're wound down, I think we're going to have to wait and see.

Yeah, and I think it kind of jars with people to a certain extent, Clare, and I think you saw that.

Particularly during the fuel protests and, you know, the workers and the farmers who were out protesting were, you know, saying that we're such a rich country and we're saying that we have money, but yet we're not feeling it.

the excise cuts that are introduced you know I was driving past a petrol station there on my way to work and the petrol prices are beginning to even creep back up compared to what they were yesterday or the day before so people aren't yeah people and I'm because I'm looking at it because I actually need to get petrol and I'm deciding whether to bite the bullet or hope they come back down and people aren't feeling it and I think you know that's a crazy thing to say when we're spending 750 million euro on this package is that people aren't feeling it and

Simon Harris and Jack Chambers can say, well, we're going to have economic growth.

Unless that actually translates to people, it's a very, very hard pill to swallow for the general public.

He does.

And I mean, speaking to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil backbenchers last week, in fairness as well, they think that then Finance Minister Pascal Donoghue made a mistake by not including a tax package for workers in the budget that's just gone.

They think, you know, that that should have been done, that it was a programme for government commitment, that it should have been implemented.

So there's political pressure there as well, probably for coming from Fine Gael's core base more than Fianna Fáil's.

But

There is going to be pressure building there.

But I remember sitting down with Simon Harris for an interview for the Irish Examiner before Christmas.