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Lucinda Creighton: The government’s cost of living package feels more like a giveaway budget

Ministers may regret not taking the advice of the likes of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, which advocated for measures that were temporary and targeted at the most vulnerable

Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin: the government’s cost of living package launched last week felt more like a giveaway budget than a serious attempt to carefully chart a course through choppy economic waters. Picture: RollingNews.ie

Politics is usually about hard choices and trade-offs. This is not because politicians like inflicting hardship. Quite the contrary – most elected officials would dearly love to be the bearers of perennial good news, given that it is what bolsters their electoral prospects.

But the reality is that states never have limitless resources. Hard choices always present themselves as decision-makers attempt to balance the needs of various groups of people, while delivering the services that ...