{"id":49528,"date":"2026-10-08T00:22:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2026\/10\/08\/govt-tried-to-get-balance-in-budget-spending-mcentee\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:22:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:22:42","slug":"govt-tried-to-get-balance-in-budget-spending-mcentee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2026\/10\/08\/govt-tried-to-get-balance-in-budget-spending-mcentee\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt ‘tried to get balance’ in budget spending – McEntee"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Senior Government figures have defended the spending plans announced in Budget 2027, despite sharp criticism from the State’s financial watchdog and opposition politicians.<\/p>\n

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) accused the coalition of playing “fast and loose” with the public finances, putting them on a worse trajectory.<\/p>\n

“The Government should be saving more, making its tax base more secure, and avoiding aimless drift” IFAC added in a statement.<\/p>\n

Minster for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee responded, saying: “There’s people saying we spent too much, people saying not enough”.<\/p>\n

She told reporters in Dublin that the Government had “tried to get a balance”.<\/p>\n

The coalition has “invested in people and services”, Ms McEntee said, including Income Tax changes, Carbon Tax policies and new plans to help people retrofit their homes.<\/p>\n

The measures, she added, are designed to “ensure the money we have now will benefit” people into the future.<\/p>\n

The minister said the budget was “one year in a five-year cycle” and “you can’t do” everything in one year.<\/p>\n

In the D\u00e1il, Labour leader Ivana Bacik described the budget as “pathetic” and “underwhelming”, and a financial plan that “ended up pleasing nobody”.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

She told Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin that the Government had failed to deliver on a number of promises, including significant help for those struggling to pay bills and a \u20ac100 culture card for 16-year-olds.<\/p>\n

Ms Bacik also criticised the budget’s failture to reverse imminent public transport fare rises.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said that he disagreed “fundamentally” with the Labour leader’s analysis.<\/p>\n

He said the Government took action on Income Tax to help workers and increased the rent tax credit.<\/p>\n

“This budget can’t be seen in isolation,” the Taoiseach said, as it needs to be seen as one of five to be delivered during the coalition\u2019s lifetime.<\/p>\n\n

Latest Budget 2027 stories<\/b><\/p>\n\n

Social Democrats\u2019 deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan claimed that pensioners living alone received the equivalent of a butter voucher after a \u20ac3 a week increase in their allowance.<\/p>\n

During Leaders’ Questions, he described the rise as a “joke” that “wouldn’t cover the cost of a cup of tea in a caf\u00e9” nor “cover the cost of a pound of butter in the supermarket”.<\/p>\n

“That’s the level of support pensioners living alone got in yesterday’s budget, the equivalent of a butter voucher”, Mr O\u2019Callaghan said.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said that it was unfair to look at the payment in isolation because of the number of other supports for older people announced yesterday.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin pointed to a \u20ac10 weekly increase in the State pension and a rise in the fuel allowance.<\/p>\n

He said the Government was on track to meet its commitment to raise the pension payment to \u20ac350 a week during its term in office.<\/p>\n

‘People never felt as poor as they do today’ – SF<\/b><\/p>\n

Earlier, Sinn F\u00e9in described the State as never being as rich, but people never feeling as poor as they do today.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s Spokesperson on Public Expenditure Mair\u00e9ad Farrell said that it would have fairer to abolish the Universal Social Charge (USC) for people earning up to \u20ac40,000.<\/p>\n

This would have “actually meant something for all workers, for the majority of workers, or the majority of workers today who work hard,” she told RT\u00c9\u2019s Morning Ireland.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, the Government announced a \u20ac1,600 increase in the entry threshold for the USC 3% band, rising from \u20ac28,700 to \u20ac30,300.<\/p>\n

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