Budget 2025 and Competitiveness: Investing in Ireland’s Future Prosperity

The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council's Pre-Budget Outlook 2025 titled Budget 2025 and Competitiveness: Investing in Ireland’s Future Prosperity aims to emphasise the key messages outlined below: 

• At this time of international uncertainty, it is vital that Ireland continues to pursue domestic policies which enable it to compete globally. In the context of strong – but uncertain – Corporation Tax receipts, prudent productivity-enhancing capital investment should be prioritised. 
• Government should focus on ensuring that the necessary and fundamental conditions for firms to compete are fair and adequate, and that one-off broad supports are considered only as a last recourse.The innovation performance of smaller firms is critical to a country’s competitiveness over the long-term. 
  Changes to the structure of the R&D Tax Credit or alternatively the introduction an innovation-based incentive could help drive an increase in innovation among SMEs. 
• The effective matching of skills and lifelong learning play a critical role in easing constraints and increasing productivity. In an economy at capacity, this is particularly important. The National Training Fund surplus should be deployed to assist in meeting current and future skills needs. 
• Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our planning and regulatory system is a matter of urgency in addressing our infrastructural deficits. The implementation of the Planning and Development Bill and the establishment of the new Planning and Environment Court are of key importance in enhancing 
  infrastructure delivery and making effective use of available capital funds.