The Dáil returns
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What energy challenges will dominate the 2027 Irish budget?
The Claire Byrne Show on News Talk. With Aviva Insurance.
The doll is back today and News Talk's political correspondent Sean Defoe is on the line. Good morning to you, Sean. So they've had A couple of months off, they've had their summer recessed, they're coming back today, I would imagine, refreshed, revitalised, ready to go, and they'd want to be, because those budget negotiations will now really come into focus, won't they, over the next few weeks. How big is the energy issue now in terms of budget twenty twenty seven for this government?
I think it's going to be the defining issue of the term, really, uh, in a number of ways. Like not only the budget, they're gonna have to deliver a pretty significant package for people to stave off the worst of the winter, but they don't know how wad that winter is going to be, which is part of the has always been part of the problem when planning ahead for energy. And if we look at things like even the excise cuts at the minute, which now are set to expire later on in the year uh almost thirty. Certainly, if you were making that decision today, you'd have to extend them even further. But also home heating oil, that comes firmly into view. The T-Shik saying yesterday, they are examining it. And from talking to ministers over the last week at the political party thinkings, they've accepted they need to do something on home heating oil.
The question is what? Do you cut the carbon tax on it?
How might the government address home heating oil costs?
That would be a kind of a first and another Rubicon crossed in perhaps the death knell of the carbon taxes, which is maybe what we're seeing the start of at the Do you change the VAT rate from thirteen and a half to nine percent, carve out a special exemption there? And if you do it for home heating oil, do you have to make other exceptions for the likes of gas as well in case there's a big increase over the winter? So lots of decisions to be made, not necessarily uh any answers as we we are sitting here today, but you can guarantee it will be raised in the doll later and it will be the touchstone issue of the next few months.
And I see Minister Jack Chambers saying, Look, there's gonna have to be trade offs in this budget and papers reporting today, once again that he is writing to departments saying, you know, before you come looking for more money, take a look at your own budget, take a look at your own spending, make sure you get that right. What are the trade offs, do you think, if there is a big move to help people deal with the cost of energy?
Well i it so Jack Chambers has taken kind of a different approach to previous budgets. He's warning ministers again this morning that there is less to spend this year than there was last year. There's still a seven billion euro increase in spending, um, but that is less than what they had last year, and they're gonna have to make decisions as to what they do. And there used to be this sort of preconceived notion in government, it was presented every year as the the ELS, that it was effectively the cost of standing still, the existing levels of service that you would as a government do everything. Everything you did in twenty twenty six, in twenty twenty seven, and there was a cost associated with that because of inflation.
And Jack Chambers wants to get rid of that. He he is kind of of the approach that why would we do everything again when not everything uh clearly not everything within uh the government's purview uh works or is the most effective thing it could do. So that each year you should be stripping away um programmes and um different things that aren't working particularly well in government. And He his warning to ministers has been if you want new spending, if you are coming to me and you're looking for new projects in whatever your brief is, you're gonna have to find the savings within your own department. I'm just not gonna sign off on a blank check and speaking to some of those ministers who've been into Jack Chambers, they haven't had a particularly good time of it in their budget negotiations.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What energy challenges will dominate the 2027 Irish budget?
0:01–1:23
2
How might the government address home heating oil costs?
1:23–3:22
3
What trade‑offs is Finance Minister Jack Chambers warning about?
3:22–4:44
4
Why is the Metrolink project becoming a budget flashpoint?
4:44–6:33
5
How will new EU Kids Act proposals affect Ireland’s policy?
6:33–8:13
6
What social‑media restrictions are being considered for Irish children?
8:13–10:04
7
When will the next Dáil session report on today’s cabinet decisions?
10:04–11:18
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Claire Byrne Show
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