Watch: Cork pupils tell us how they would allocate funds in Budget 2025

Budget 2025 is due to be announced tomorrow, and the highly anticipated event has become a whole family affair, as even school children have taken to discussing the annual allocations on the playground.

With this in mind, we visited a local primary school to get the perspective of young people on what they think Ireland’s most pressing issues are.

Speaking to The Echo, third and fourth-class pupils at North Presentation Primary School in Blackpool shared their spending suggestions, with a particular focus on housing, healthcare, humanitarian aid and the homeless.

Fourth class’s Kaya shared what she believes the annual budget is, saying: “It’s basically how the Government spend their money and how they use it for houses, pensions for elderly people and for food. [It’s] also about how people need to spend their money, you can’t use it for stupid stuff, you have to use it for stuff that is more important.”

Fellow fourth-class student Tabassum said: “It’s how the government spends all the money they’re supposed to use on the whole country. They can use it on stuff like hospitals and houses for the homeless.”

Their classmate Mia said the budget is when “the government take some of the money away for themselves and leave you with some to use for clothes and all the essential things you need.”

When asked what they would do if they had control of the country’s spending, third class students Ginevra, Darragh, Emmanuel and Gabrielius, in a manner beyond their years, detailed how they would split the money amongst lesser fortunate groups, before saving some for the future.

Ginevra said: “I would spend it on hospitals, schools and a tiny bit on more houses. I would spend a tiny bit for me [too] on food and clothes, and then I would give some to the homeless, so they can buy a house and some food.”

Darragh said: “I would spend it on homeless people, orphans and hospitals.”

Emmanuel said: “I would probably spend some on farms so we have more organic food, and also some on hospitals and other stuff too.”

Gabrielius said: “I would give half of the money to Gaza, and the rest of the money I would spend it on food, so I could give it to orphans and shelters, and dogs and cats, and other homeless people.”

Adding to this, fourth class’s Andrea said: “I would spend it on important buildings like schools, hospitals and police departments, but I would also save some of it.”