Growing population will have ‘big consequences’ on Budget plans – Donohue

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Population growth is having “big consequences” on new spending measures in the Budget, the Minister for Public Expenditure said.

Budget 2025 is to include a €6.9 billion spending package.

Of this, €5.1 billion will cover the costs of meeting existing levels of service requirements in 2025 and decisions have already been taken around public pay and funding the National Development Plan.

It leaves €1.8 billion for new current expenditure measures, with minister Paschal Donohoe identifying the growing population as the “big pressure” on finalising the budget.

Asked where pinch points across departments in the next Budget would be, Mr Donohoe said: “We have a population which continues to grow – which is a really good and a really, really important thing – but it does mean that the cost of maintaining the same quality of public services is going up year after year.

“The clearest example of where we are experiencing that at the moment is with regard to our health services, where – while the outcomes that they are delivering are, I believe, improving for for many but still need to improve for more – we are simply seeing more and more people turning up in our emergency departments in our big hospitals in bigger numbers than we have seen before.”

Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Thursday, he said: “That is an example of the demographic change, that we have always thought about happening in the medium term, is now happening.

“That has big consequences for our budgets and for the money that is available for new measures.”