Budget 2026 will be remembered for prioritising big developers and fast-food chains over the needs of struggling households, remarked Social Democrats finance spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan.
The Dublin Bay North TD said that the 2026 Budget is one of “bad choices and missed opportunities.”
“It paints a picture of a government firmly on the side of vested interests rather than helping those struggling with the cost-of-living or desperately trying to put a roof over their heads,” the Soc Dems deputy leader said.
“At a time when the government has the gall to lecture us about protecting the national finances, it erodes the tax take by €1.3 billion – a massive amount of money that could have been used in so many other ways.”
He noted that the Budget had the potential to tackle the cost of living crisis in a meaningful way; ever since inflation took hold in late 2021 and peaked in late 2022, the cost of living crisis has become a factor in everyday life.
Per O’Callaghan, this year’s Budget did not tackle the problem.
“This budget could have lifted 40,000 children out of poverty with a second tier of Child Benefit; abolished the means test for carers; maintained the €1,000 cut in third level fees; reduced the cost of childcare for families while rolling out a public model; provided a weekly cost of disability payment; turbocharged the delivery of affordable homes; and introduced targeted energy credits to benefit 800,000 household; instread it awards multinational companies like McDonald’s and Starbucks millions in extra profits by reducing their VAT rate to nine per cent.”
O’Callaghan noted that in 2024, the Irish wing of McDonald’s made a profit of €42 million.
“This is not a company that is struggling, unlike smaller independent hospitality businesses around the country that could have benefited from more targeted supports.”
The TD also dubbed the Budget a “bonanza for big developers, who will see VAT on new apartments slashed. The government is not even insisting that property prices or rents go down as a precondition for such a generous concession. It is being done with one express purpose – to boost developers’ profits.”
“Government spending has soared from €66.6 billion in 2019 to €116.8 billion now. However, all we have to show for it is a worsening housing disaster, threadbare disability services, creaking infrastructure, substandard public services and rising poverty levels,” he remarked.
“What we got today from this government was a McBudget – a giveaway for property developers and the owners of fast-food chains. It’s a budget that struggling households around the country will find hard to swallow.”