Ibec welcomes scale of investment in human capital and infrastructure set out in Budget 2025

Ibec, the group representing Irish businesses, has welcomed the ambitious scale of investment outlined in Budget 2025, particularly in terms of infrastructure and human capital. The confirmation to unlock the National Training Fund (NTF), which Ibec has long called for, is seen as an important and overdue step towards developing the necessary skills for a modern economy. According to Ibec, Budget 2025 reflects the role business has played in creating the surplus underlying today’s budget. While cost competitiveness challenges remain a concern, Budget 2025 is making the right signals towards a more realistic and sustainable path forward for businesses worried about rising cumulative costs.

Speaking about Budget 2025, Ibec CEO Danny McCoy said:

“Budget 2025 reflects the incredible contribution businesses have made in creating the surplus that is enabling the Government to be ambitious in the type of investment made today. In the past five years, corporation tax has contributed €110 billion to the Irish exchequer, with an expected €40 billion this year alone. The rise of digitisation and AI is reshaping industries and creating new opportunities for high-skilled, high-paying jobs. We welcome the urgency to unlock the NTF and we will now work with the Government to ensure its effectively used to boost businesses and their employees.

Ireland is a high-cost location relative to our competitors. Therefore, we must remain vigilant in protecting our ability to compete and safeguarding cost competitiveness, especially in light of rising operating costs and changes to labour costs. The areas central to Ibec’s message to the Government — regulatory changes, the introduction of auto-enrolment, and changes in taxation such as the small benefits exemption, to retirement relief and improvements in schemes for investment - are paving a more realistic path for improving cost competitiveness. We will continue to work with this Government and the next to ensure that new policies do not inadvertently drive-up costs, unnecessarily placing businesses in a more vulnerable position.”