Ibec's analysis

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.”

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Gerard Brady is the Chief Economist at Ibec. His role involves regular analysis of economic issues for a business audience, shaping Ibec's economic, tax and fiscal policy positions and advising companies and sectoral organisations. He is a current member on the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) and the National Statistics Board. He also represents Irish business in a number of international economic and tax fora such as Business at the OECD (BIAC) and BusinessEurope. Prior to joining Ibec in 2013, Gerard worked as a Lecturer in Economics in University College Cork. He is a previous winner of the Miriam Hederman O’Brien prize awarded by the Foundation for Fiscal Studies.