Budget 2026: Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers and Minister for Finance Pascal Donohoe have plenty of work to do this weekend. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins Photo
Behind firmly closed doors in the complex of buildings that house the offices of the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure, Ministers have been busy.
A series of sometimes fraught meetings between Ministers and senior officials has been taking place all week as Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers seek to finalise next week’s Budget, the first of the Government’s second term.
There’s still work to be done this weekend, in advance of Tuesday’s announcements
It has not been an easy process. It never is, of course, but after three years of giveaway budgets – especially last year’s pre-election edition – the determination of Donohoe and Chambers to limit spending growth means that this is going to be shock to the system.
According to several people involved in the wider process, Ministers have been taken aback at spending allocations they believe will store up political problems for them.
One Cabinet minister was reported to be pacing the grounds of Leinster
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