Minister Jack Chambers warns Budget will have limited room for tax cuts, with priority on housing
Mr Chambers admitted it would be "much more challenging" to assess the benefits for families this year given the tighter fiscal parameters facing the Government - with taxpayers promised last year that Budget 2025 would benefit them by around €1,000."Providing a figure like that is more challenging this year, to be frank," he said."There is a more limited scope (this year) for changes on income tax."Mr Chambers said measures such as investment in infrastructure and housing as well as VAT changes for the hospitality sector had taken a sizeable chunk of flexibility from Budget 2026."A lot of our focus will be through the social protection system and investment in public services and how we improve the day to day experience of families. The nature of the tax package will be a little different his year," he said."Part of that will be to drive competitiveness in the economy....but I am not in a position to give any figure like that."Families were told last year they faced savings and benefits worth around €1,000 when all budget measures were combined."We have a very limited tax package of €1.5bn and there are a lot of measures which have to fit within that (for Budget 2026)," he said."There is more limited scope this year than last year."Also, we are also cognisant of international uncertainty about major changes from a tax perspective and what that risks in the medium term."I think we have to be responsible in managing the risks that are there in the Irish economy."Mr Chambers also insisted that everyone in Government shared the view of Fianna Fáil's Presidential candidate Jim Gavin that more needed to be done to tackle the housing crisis.Mr Gavin warned that Government measures to address the housing crisis had, to date, "not been good enough”.But Mr Chambers said the Government will specifically target housing in Budget 2026."It is the single biggest issue for Government," he said."Clearly that means massively ramping up social and affordable housing but also alleviating some of the blockages we have in the private sector for example the mismatch between the national objectives in housing and some of the local authorities which clearly are not on board in terms of zoning more land."We are clear that if local authorities are getting in the way we are going to provide greater clarity of direction."If you look at the National Development Plan and how we have underpinned housing and infrastructure for investment - €40bn in the next five years for housing and water infrastructure shows the clear focus of the State-led investment in housing."But that has to be complemented by a policy of much greater zoning for land and delivery of private supply will be central to the delivery of housing."We are always focused on increasing our supply of housing. We want to do more, we want to deliver more and we are constantly reviewing and trying to reform policies to deliver more housing."We are conscious that it is the single biggest issue for families and for young people."(The Government) is trying to moderate current infrastructure."We still have areas we want to improve such as public services, how can we improve affordability of services across Government and that improves the day to day living of many working families."We have been very clear that notwithstanding the challenges that are there, we want to stick within a tighter fiscal parameter than we have in previous years."That means we need to prioritise, we need to better target measures but also for people across Ireland to see improved delivery of public services."That is why reform is as important as the constant engagement we have with who is getting what and what the additional expenditure will be."Clearly infrastructural investment will be the big transformative impact for families over the future in terms of water, housing, energy and all those clear areas which are under serious constraint right now."We are in a position - unlike a lot of other European countries - where we are able to provide additionality next year. We want to target that. We want to prioritise that.”Mr Chambers added: "We need to build a more resilient economy and that it is sustainable into the future."We have set out the clear parameters for Budget 2026 with a package of over €9.5bn."That is not going to change and it is important that we stick within the fiscal parameters for 2026."It is clearly going to be defined by investment and particularly in infrastructure and housing. Also, from the engagement within our parliamentary party, the frustration that is there, underpinned by some of the delivery systems and how we build the future foundations for the country such as infrastructure and housing which is separate to the Budget."Mr Chamber said that a key priority was to deliver a programme of reform whereby targeted spending has the maximum possible impact."We want the outputs to match some of the inputs," he said."But we want to insulate working families from the impact of rising prices."
