'Absolute disaster' - Ministers slammed by RTÉ radio listeners during Claire Byrne Budget call-in

Ministers Jack Chambers and Paschal Donohoe were bombarded with questions on Wednesday morning, as they joined RTÉ host Claire Bryne on radio to discuss the Budget.

The Minister for Finance and Minister for Public Expenditure came under fire on Claire Bryne's morning radio show from members of the public, after the duo officially unveiled Budget 2025 yesterday in the Dáil.

Described as a catch-all "election budget" by economists, opposition politicians and several economists and interest groups have slammed the Budget, saying it was a spurned opportunity to tackle issues facing the country, including housing and health.

According to both Chambers and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe, the funding aims to help workers and families equally with businesses.

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A pensioner named Anne called in to the radio show and summarised her thoughts on Budget 2025 as "an absolute disaster", describing how her supposed €12 increase in weekly pension pay would in reality only be an extra €9.60 per week after taxes.

Another caller, Barry, pleading with the ministers to consider reducing the tax rate to 10 per cent, as the small business owner expressed his frustration about the hospitality sector’s VAT rate not being brought back to 9 per cent.

Both Finace Minister Jack Chambers and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe defended their decision not to cut the VAT rate for the hospitality sector., with Donohoe saying the Government could not introduce a third rate of VAT for the sector.

Minister Chambers also defended his Budget from criticism from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council which said the package risked repeating the "mistakes of the past".

He said the Government had established two funds which would have put aside €10 billion by this year and €16 billion by next year.

"We will continue to put a significant proportion of (tax) receipts aside to plan for the long term," he added.

A public health nurse, Maria, also called to complain about the Budget, explaining to the ministers that the supports for the health sector announced in the Budget were welcomed, but not enough.

Donohoe replied, saying: "We have public service wage agreement that is in place now for last, for this year and for next year to increase the wages of you and your colleagues.

"And then secondly it is how we can create a work environment which recognises and reflects the quality if you do by the investment that we put into our primary care centres and to our hospitals."

"I hear what you're saying, but it is not filtering down to the front lines," Maria explained.

Another caller named Michael, a Clare fisherman, lambasted the ministers for "forgetting the (fishing) sector again and again".

Both Chambers and Donohoe explained that Charlie McConalogue is set to tackle the issue with increased funding next year. 

Alice, a childcare worker from Cork, welcomed the extra funding to parents and children with additional needs, but questioned "what have the workers been given?"

She told the ministers that she regularly had to call parents to turn down children for the their child care business, as their creche does not have the staff to facilitate any more.

Minister Donohoe replied: ‘In the overall childcare budget – around €1.37bn, within that, €350m has been ringfenced to support the sector itself. What that will help us do is two things.

‘Firstly, support the wages and terms and conditions of those who are working within the sector, by therefore leading to more spaces in the future. And secondly, give us the funding to try to support the development of the sector overall.’