Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam; tá sé sin fíor. It is equally true to say that a city without arts and culture spaces is a city without a soul. I join others in urging the Government to intervene in regard to The Complex arts centre. It is really important that we do not continue to have arts and artists being pushed out of Dublin city. We need more, not fewer, arts and community spaces and spaces for culture, and we need more creativity in the city to have a happy, thriving city. This Bill is a constitutional requirement that is necessary to keep our public services running and keep the show on the road. It presents a good opportunity to scrutinise Government spending and take stock of what we should be doing better. It is remarkable that this Government managed to put together a €9.4 billion budget that leaves the most vulnerable worse off. The Government is spending like there is no tomorrow, according to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, but there are still well over 5,000 children who will spend Christmas in homeless emergency accommodation. That number has increased month after month since this Government took office. Disabled people have had their incomes cut by up to €1,400. Pensioners are afraid to turn on the heating. There are families struggling to afford the basics at the supermarket, so where exactly are these billions going? They are not being targeted at those who need it most. The budget should have been an opportunity to show foresight, discipline and responsibility. Instead, it has become a case study in how this Government ignores expert advice, dismisses the evidence and gambles recklessly with the future of our public finances. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, the Nevin Economic Research Institute, the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, the Commission on Taxation and Welfare and the Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO, have all, in different ways, issued stark warnings and those warnings were ignored. The fiscal council warned that this Government's budgetary policy was adding fuel to an economic fire. It highlighted that spending growth was rising far above sustainable levels and that repeated budget over-runs were baked into the system. Most damning of all, it showed that our surpluses exist only because of windfall corporation tax receipts from a handful of multinationals. Strip those out and Ireland is already running a deficit of €7.4 billion in 2025, rising to €13.6 billion in 2026. These windfalls should have been invested in infrastructure projects that will benefit our long-term economic security. Instead, in large part, they were used to cut taxes for developers and fast-food chains. The council's verdict was devastating. On this, it said: "The Government is budgeting like there is no tomorrow." The Nevin Economic Research Institute echoed these warnings. Before the budget, it said that fiscal policy was already running too hot. After the budget, its assessment was blunt. It said: "We are channelling the 2000s with boom-time budgeting for a boom-time economy." It condemned the complacency bred by headline surpluses, which exist only because of corporation tax windfalls. It warned that if those receipts vanish, Ireland will be left with a massive deficit. It singled out one measure as particularly reckless: the VAT cut for the hospitality sector. In its words, wasting €700 million annually on a low-pay, low-productivity industry was "a breathtakingly feckless waste of resources". It pointed out some of the ways we could have used €700 million. We could have hired 11,000 additional nurses, made public transport free or lifted 50,000 children out of poverty. Instead, it was handed to the loudest lobby group. The ESRI gave similar warnings. In September, it warned that fiscal policy was pro-cyclical, stimulating demand in an economy already at or above capacity. It urged targeted investment in infrastructure bottlenecks and preparation for predictable long-term pressures like climate change and ageing. After the budget its analysis was damning. It found that budget 2026 would actually reduce disposable incomes with average losses of 2%. Low-income households were hit hardest, losing 4.1% of disposable income. Low-income households already making choices between heating or eating cannot afford any more cuts to their income. They do not have a single cent to spare. This shows the priorities of this Government and how out of touch it is. Those who are struggling get thrown under the bus while there are tax cuts aplenty for those at the top. The Commission on Taxation and Welfare provided the long-term roadmap. Its report, Foundations for the Future, made one point above all others: Ireland must broaden its tax base. It recommended shifting the balance of taxation away from labour and towards capital and consumption. It urged reforms to PRSI, increases in wealth taxes and a gradual phasing out of reduced VAT rates. Budget 2026 did the opposite. Instead of broadening the tax base, it narrowed it. Reckless VAT cuts were introduced for developers and fast-food chains in direct contradiction of the commission's recommendations. These cuts erode revenues and leave Ireland even more dependent on volatile corporation tax receipts. The commission's message was clear that Ireland's overall level of tax base must grow to meet the challenges of ageing, climate change and debt. Budget 2026 moved in the opposite direction. Finally the PBO was scathing in its assessment of budget 2026. It condemned the reckless tax cuts for hospitality and property developers and warned that subsidies of €675 million for developers were introduced without any analysis of how they interact with the housing market, whether they are effective or whether they create intended consequences. It warned that giant tax cuts for the hospitality sector were not likely to result in lower prices for consumers but instead would be pocketed by the likes of McDonald's and Domino's. The PBO analysis made it abundantly clear that budget 2026 was built on a weak evidence base with tax expenditures rolled out to the loudest lobby groups rather than meeting the greatest needs in the country. Let us take stock. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council told us we are budgeting like there is no tomorrow, the Nevin Economic Research Institute warned that we are channeling the mid-2000s with boom-time budgeting and the ESRI told us we risk overheating and leaving ourselves exposed. The Commission on Taxation and Welfare previously warned that we need to broaden the tax base and yet the Government narrowed it. The PBO told us the reckless tax cuts for hospitality and property developers are fiscally unsustainable, economically unjustified and socially wasteful. These are five different independent bodies with five sets of warnings, all of which were ignored. Budget 2026 shows that the Government was unwilling to listen, plan and prepare with the advice that was given. It shows the Government choosing short-term politics over long-term sustainability and leaves Ireland dangerously exposed to the volatility of corporation tax, the predictable costs of an ageing population, the demands of climate change and the risk of future downturns. If it continues down this path, tomorrow will come with deficits, cutbacks and the public finance system unprepared for these challenges. These decisions were reckless. Government spending this year will be remembered for what it was: a story of bad choices and missed opportunities. The Government could have backed families struggling with energy bills. It could have abolished the means test for carers. It could have introduced a cost-of-disability payment, which was promised in a report in 2021 that has not yet been acted on. It could have reduced childcare costs as promised during the election, but that has not happened. It could have lifted 40,000 children out of poverty, but it did not. Instead it chose developers, large landlords and fast-food giants and chose recklessly to narrow our tax base. Once again, it shows that the priorities of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are more concerned with those at the top rather than looking after our long-term economic security. No amount of spin can disguise that. It can be seen. Rinne an Rialtas na roghanna míchearta. Má chaitheann muid súil siar at the mistakes that were made in the past in the run-up to the collapse of the Celtic tiger, we can see those same mistakes being repeated again. Céard atá ar siúl?

Sentiment score: -0.11